Hurricane Tammy approaching Caribbean islands; new system could emerge near Central America
Hurricane Tammy formed Friday morning as it approached the islands in the far eastern Caribbean.
As of 2 p.m. Eastern time Friday, Tammy had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph, just over the hurricane threshold of 74 mph, with its hurricane-force-wings extending out 25 miles from its center.
The storm was located 145 miles east-southeast of Martinique, traveling west-northwest at 7 mph.
Tammy is forecast to pass over some of the islands in the eastern Caribbean before turning north in the Atlantic Ocean — away from land.
“A turn toward the northwest is anticipated by this evening, followed by a north-northwestward and northward turn Saturday night through Sunday night,” forecasters said. “On the forecast track, the center of Tammy will move near or over portions of the Leeward Islands tonight and on Saturday, and then move north of the northern Leeward Islands on Sunday.”
Tammy should gradually strengthen over the next couple of days.
A hurricane warning is in effect for Guadeloupe, Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, and St. Kitts and Nevis, and a hurricane watch is in effect for Dominica, Anguilla, St. Maarten, St. Martin and St. Barthelemy.
Large and potentially dangerous swells from Tammy will continue affecting the islands over the next few days, the hurricane center said.
Heavy rains were expected to start in the Leeward and Windward Islands on Friday, then the British and U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico during the weekend.
Rainfall totals could reach 3 to 6 inches, with maximum amounts of 10 inches in the islands of the eastern Caribbean, with rain of 1 to 2 inches with maximum amounts of 4 inches in the British and U.S. Virgin Islands and eastern Puerto Rico. Mudslides and isolated flash and urban flooding are possible.
Forecasters are also watching an area in the southwestern Caribbean for development, where the National Hurricane Center said a system could form by the weekend. It could slowly develop before moving over Central America next week. As of 2 p.m., it has low odds of developing, at 20% in the next seven days.
So far this season in the Atlantic, there have been 19 named storms, seven of which were hurricanes. Of those, three were major hurricanes, meaning Category 3 or above.
Those were Hurricane Lee, a rare Category 5; Hurricane Franklin, a Category 4; and Hurricane Idalia, which made landfall on Florida’s Big Bend region at Category 3 strength on Aug. 30.
The remaining storm names for 2023 are Vince and Whitney. If all those names end up being used this season, the National Hurricane Center would turn to the supplemental list of names from the World Meteorological Association. In previous years, the Greek alphabet was used for additional storm names — which had only happened twice before — during the record-shattering hurricane seasons in 2005 and 2020.
Hurricane season officially runs through Nov. 30.
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