Forecasters watch new tropical wave that may impact Florida as Fiona, Gaston churn alo
MIAMI - The National Hurricane Center said Hurricane Fiona has strengthened into a Category 4 storm even as forecasters are tracking three other storms, one of which could impact Florida next week.
After lashing Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, Fiona continues to churn in the Atlantic along with Tropical Storm Gaston.
Long-term models have one system on a path that could put it in the central Caribbean by next week before threatening Florida.
The other two systems are in the eastern Atlantic Ocean.
But Fiona is also still swriling.
As of the 8 a.m. advisory, it was located about 700 miles southwest of Bermuda. which is under a tropical storm warning and hurricane watch..
Fiona was moving north at 8 mph with sustained winds of 130 mph. Fiona is forecast to move northeastward away from the Turks and Caicos Island on Wednesday and approach Bermuda late on Thursday.
Tropical Storm Gaston is spinning out in the Northern Atlantic and is not a threat to the U.S.
A tropical wave located a couple of hundred miles east of the southern Windward Islands has a high potential of becoming a tropical depression or Tropical Storm Hermine over the next 2 to 5 days.
This system is forecast to move west-northwest across the southern Windward Islands on Wednesday and then move towards the central Caribbean later this week. Regardless of development, heavy rainfall is forecast to affect northwestern Venezuela, northeastern Colombia, and the ABC island chain later this week.
Forecast models diverge and indicate a lot of uncertainty regarding where this system may end up by early next week. This is an area the Next Weather team will monitor closely.
