FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ Bermuda is under a tropical storm warning, up from yesterday's watch, as Hurricane Humberto has grown stronger, with the storm's winds now reaching 100 mph, making Humberto a Category 2 hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Humberto, heading away from the U.S., could potentially be a major hurricane by Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, which would mean it would be packing winds of at least 111 mph, strong enough to rip roofs off houses and leave widespread devastation.
At 8 a.m. Tuesday, Humberto was located about 555 miles west of Bermuda with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph _ a jump of 10 mph from earlier Tuesday _ as it was moving toward the east-northeast at 8 mph.
The storm's core is expected to approach Bermuda on Wednesday night. The tropical storm watch for the island means that tropical storm conditions are possible within the next 48 hours.
But as has been the case in recent weeks, as one storm ages, another one or more seem to roll off the assembly line. One such disturbance is about midway between Africa and South America _ about 1,000 miles from the Lesser Antilles on the eastern rim of the Caribbean.
"The associated shower and thunderstorm activity has increased and become a little better organized this morning, and conditions are expected to be conducive for the formation of a tropical depression during the next day or so while the system moves slowly northwestward to west-northwestward," Senior Hurricane Specialist Stacy Stewart wrote in Tuesday's tropical weather outlook.
The system is being given a 90% chance of becoming at least a tropical depression over the next five days. If it were to become a tropical storm, it would be named Imelda.
It's too early to know where the potential future Imelda might go or whether atmospheric conditions would steer it toward the U.S. or any of the Caribbean islands or keep it offshore.
Meanwhile in the Gulf of Mexico, another tropical disturbance has seen its chances of formation increase slightly, from 10% earlier Monday to 30% as of Tuesday morning's advisory.
Regardless of what happens the disturbance is expected to bring heavy rain to parts of the Texas Gulf coast this week, the hurricane center said.
For the U.S. over the next few days, Hurricane Humberto is bringing large waves to beaches from Central Florida to North Carolina. Swimmers and surfers should be aware that life-threatening rip currents are a very real possibility, as are life-threatening surf conditions.
