Tropical Storm Tammy jumped in intensity Thursday morning as it headed toward the Caribbean where it’s expected to reach hurricane strength by Saturday, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The NHC said hurricane hunter aircraft found maximum sustained winds had jumped from 40 mph to 60 mph since Wednesday night and it issued an updated 8 a.m. forecast as more of Caribbean’s Windward and Leeward Islands issued tropical storm watches.
“Gradual strengthening is forecast during the next few days and Tammy could be near hurricane intensity by early Saturday,” forecasters said.
As of 8 p.m. the center of Tammy was located about 190 miles east-northeast of Barbados and 290 miles east-southeast of Martinique moving west-northwest at 10 mph.
“Little change in strength is expected tonight, but gradual strengthening is expected to begin on Friday and continue into this weekend,” forecasters said. “Tammy is forecast to be at or near hurricane intensity when it moves near the Leeward Islands Friday night and Saturday.”
A tropical storm warning is in effect for Dominica, Guadeloupe, Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, with hurricane watch in effect for all by Dominica. Tropical storm watches are in effect for Barbados, Martinique, Anguilla, St. Barthelemy, Saba and St. Eustatius, St. Maarten and St. Martin.
“A turn toward the northwest is forecast on Friday, and this motion should continue through Saturday. A northward motion is forecast to begin Saturday
night or Sunday,” forecasters said. “On the forecast track, the center of Tammy will move near or over the Leeward Islands Friday and Saturday, and then move north of the Leeward Islands Saturday night and Sunday.”
Tropical-storm-force winds extend out up to 125 miles and conditions will begin to deteriorate in some of the watch areas by Friday. The system is expected to drop from 3 to 6 inches with some areas getting 10 inches through Saturday across portions of the northern Windward into the Leeward
Islands. The British and U.S. Virgin Islands and eastern Puerto Rico could see 1 to 2 inches with some areas getting 4 inches of rain.
The heavy rainfall could produce some flash and urban flooding and isolated mudslides. Swells from the storm continue to cause rough surf and rip current conditions.
Low wind shear and warm waters are expected to drive Tammy to become a Category 1 hurricane before it heads north into the open Atlantic.
Additional watches and warnings will likely be required later today, the NHC said.
#Tammy is the 20th named storm of the 2023 Atlantic #hurricane season (subtropical storm formed in January). Only three year other years on record have had 20+ Atlantic named storms by Oct. 18: (2020 – 25 named storms, 2005 – 22 named storms, 2021 – 20 named storms). pic.twitter.com/X0qnPEJdHw
— Philip Klotzbach (@philklotzbach) October 18, 2023
Tammy became the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season’s 20th official system, which includes an unnamed subtropical storm in January and 19 systems that grew to tropical-storm strength taking on 19 names of the 21-letter alphabet maintained by the World Meteorological Organization so far.
Hurricane season officially runs from June 1-Nov. 30.
