Shary will pass near or just to the east of Bermuda tonight or early Saturday morning, and Tomas is forecast to become a major hurricane in the Caribbean next week.
Shary, a small storm, has strengthened into a 65-mph tropical storm today, and the official National Hurricane Center forecast is for the storm to remain below hurricane strength of 74 mph. Tropical storm warnings are in effect for Bermuda, where tropical-storm-force winds, dangerous seas and heavy rain will buffet the island from later today into Saturday morning. One to 3 inches of rain is expected.
After passing Bermuda, the storm will weaken and race northeastward across the open Atlantic this weekend, posing no additional direct threat to land.
(Image courtesy of NOAA)
As of late this afternoon, Tropical Storm Tomas had a sustained wind of 40 mph and was located about 200 miles southeast of Barbados. Tomas is much larger than Shary and is in an environment conducive for development as it moves northwestward into the Caribbean. U.S government forecasters predict that it will become a hurricane by Sunday afternoon and become a major hurricane in the central Caribbean by midday Tuesday.
Tropical storm warnings have been issued for the Windward Islands.
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Given the expected intensification and track of Tomas, residents in the Caribbean need to monitor the system very closely. A direct hit from a large and powerful hurricane is not needed for life-threatening weather conditions. Tropical Storm Tomas is the 19th named storm of the season, compared with a 1966 through 2009 average of 11.3 named storms per year.
Only two names remain on the prepared list of names because the letters Q, U, X, Y and Z are not used. If the number of named storms exceeds 21, then the letters of the Greek alphabet will then be used to name additional storms. The only time this happened was in 2005, when a record-breaking season of 28 storms resulted Tropical Storm Alpha, Hurricane Beta, Tropical Storm Gamma, Tropical Storm Delta, Hurricane Epsilon and Tropical Storm Zeta late in the season.
Forecasters are monitoring a third area -- in the Central Atlantic -- for possible development; however, upper-level conditions are not favorable for strengthening, and the system is no threat to land.