Vigilance is essential. A cyclonic disturbance in the Caribbean, notably in the French Antilles in Guadeloupe and Martinique, threatens to become the sixth tropical storm of the hurricane season in the Atlantic, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC) of the United States.
“A gradual strengthening is expected over the next two days, and the disturbance is expected to turn into a tropical storm overnight,” the Miami-based NHC warned in its latest newsletter dated August 9.
The organization has issued warnings of a possible tropical storm for Guadeloupe and Martinique, as well as for Dominica, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and the Dominican Republic.
Guadeloupe and Martinique placed in yellow vigilance
The tropical phenomenon was 65 km southeast of Dominica at midnight local time on Tuesday. It could strengthen over the next few hours in a tropical depression or tropical storm, according to a Météo France bulletin published at 6 a.m. in Paris, which also placed Martinique and Guadeloupe on yellow alert.
Its west-northwest trajectory takes it across Dominica in a few hours, then this phenomenon should reach Puerto Rico on Tuesday evening. A tropical wave, located in the Atlantic center, should transit between Friday and Saturday over the West Indian arc.