Tropical Storm Jerry formed Tuesday, becoming the Atlantic hurricane season’s tenth named storm.
Forecasters said the system is expected to pass near or just north of the northern Leeward Islands later by Thursday evening and into Friday.
Models show the storm tracking northwest toward the U.S., although many options for its path remain possible this early.
“Interests [in the northern Leeward Islands] should monitor the progress of the storm, as there is a risk of wind, surf and rainfall impacts,” the National Hurricane Center advised.
The storm follows increased activity in the Atlantic, with major hurricanes Imelda and Humberto forming over the past few weeks.
Humberto brought dangerous rip currents and swells to the East Coast and its outer bands swept across Bermuda at the end of last month.
Imelda formed just days later, striking Cuba as a tropical storm and leading to the deaths of two people last week. After passing over Cuba and strengthening into a Category 2 hurricane, it side-swiped Bermuda, causing widespread power outages and downing trees.
Although the hurricanes did not hit the U.S. directly, churning ocean waters sent multiple North Carolina homes tumbling into the surf.
Imelda and Humberto were only separated by 500 miles, leading the storms to become intertwined and yanking Imelda away from the East Coast in a phenomenon known as the Fujiwhara Effect.
“It’s a very rare phenomenon overall in the Atlantic basin,” AccuWeather’s Alex DaSilva told The Associated Press.
Several storms this year have veered away from the states this hurricane season. Stronger and taller storms are often pulled away by high-up winds, WRAL meteorologist Chris Michaels explained.
It’s happened with Andrea, Chantal, Dexter, Fernand and Erin.
“Erin was a major hurricane that stayed 200 miles off the coast of North Carolina in August. The Southeast was spared from major flooding from Hurricane Imelda in September, thanks in part to the rare Fujiwhara Effect,” DaSilva noted in a statement shared with The Independent.
The last time there were no hurricane landfalls in the U.S. through the month of September was in 2015, AccuWeather noted.
The only named storm to make landfall in the U.S. so far this year was Tropical Storm Chantal, which battered the Carolinas in July, costing between $4-6 billion in damage and economic loss.
But, there’s still time for major impacts – the Atlantic hurricane season runs through November 30.
