ORLANDO, Fla. _ Hurricane Jerry is now Tropical Storm Jerry, and while it may regain hurricane strength, the latest investigation shows the storm is becoming less organized.
As of the 11 a.m. EDT advisory, the storm is maintaining maximum sustained winds near 65 mph, moving northwest at 14 mph about 260 miles north-northeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and 710 miles south of Bermuda.
The latest track keeps it well north of Puerto Rico Saturday and well east of the southern Bahamas on Sunday, but its current track puts it near Bermuda and near hurricane strength by Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.
While tropical-storm-force winds extend out 90 miles, the storm's swells are the biggest danger to the northern Leeward Islands Saturday, likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions, forecasters said.
Jerry could also produce up to an additional 3 inches of rain across St. Maarten, Anguilla, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, the National Hurricane Center warned.
"An Air Force Reserve hurricane hunter plane has investigated Jerry this morning and found that the tropical storm has become quite disorganized," reads the storm discussion. "Because Jerry is not well organized at the moment, no strengthening is expected in the short term."
As the storm continues northwest Saturday, it's projected to turn north on Sunday and then speed up on its way to Bermuda to the northeast early next week.
Forecasters can't rule out additional weakening before the turn toward Bermuda, but current models have it regaining strength before then, but just barely, with 75 mph winds projected by Wednesday.
The NHC is also tracking several disturbances in the tropics.
As of 8 a.m., the most recent development involves a disturbance predicted to move off the African coast this weekend. It has a 90% chance of becoming a tropical depression in the next five days.
A disturbance in the mid-Atlantic region has a 60% chance of developing into a depression in the next two to five days.
The NHC was also watching a disturbance near Cuba in the Caribbean Sea, but no longer considers it will have a chance to form into anything more than disorganized showers.
