Tropical Storm Erika strengthens

“We will see a couple of stronger storms, with lightning and strong wind gusts, as well as heavy downpours”, Bridges said.

The National Hurricane Center forecasts that a west-northwestward motion at a slightly slower forward speed is expected over the next 48 hours.

The storm is expected to be near South Florida by Monday, according to James Franklin, chief hurricane forecaster at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Right now, computer models are in agreement that the storm will pass over the Leeward Islands over the next day, Puerto Rico by Thursday, and the Dominican Republican on Friday.

Tropical storm warnings are posted for numerous islands in the Caribbean including: Puerto Rico, UK Virgin Islands, US Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Saba and St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, St. Martin, St. Barthelemy, Montserrat, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, Vieques and Culebra.

Florida residents and tourists were told to check disaster kits and escape plans as the chances rise the state will get its first hurricane strike in 10 years.

The end of August and all through September are peak hurricane season, and that’s evident with Erika, the second tropical storm in just as many weeks. Erika formed in the middle of the Atlantic and was moving west on Wednesday morning, passing about 335 miles east of Antigua. It’s forecast to cross the Lesser Antilles Thursday morning, Puerto Rico Thursday night, Hispaniola on Friday and the Bahamas on Saturday.

Maximum sustained winds are near 45 miles per hour.

Erika may bring much-needed rain to drought-suffering islands in the northern Caribbean as Hurricane Danny did last week before fizzling out. This storm’s track can change in the coming days.

Forecasters are warning that Erika is expected to strengthen and it could become a Category One hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale by this weekend.

“The amount of strengthening on days 4-5 will be dependent in part on how Erika responds to the preceding unfavorable shear”, Brown said.

Tropical Storm Erika remained a weak and struggling system today as it continued moving quickly west across the Atlantic.