Joaquin Expected To Become A Hurricane
The tenth named storm of the 2015 Hurricane Season, Tropical Storm Joaquin continued to get stronger in the overnight hours. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center now believe the system will intensify to hurricane strength by later this morning.
The system is currently located about 300 miles east of the Bahamas. The storm is drifting slowly to the west southwest at five miles per hour. The maximum sustained winds are just below hurricane strength at 70 mph. Winds will need to increase to at least 74 mph for the storm to be classified as a Category 1 storm on the Saffire-Simpson Scale.
The forecast track for Joaquin is very tight for the next 24- 48 hours then the storm is expected to be influenced by a low pressure trough and storm system that will bring beautiful weather to South Louisiana this weekend. The trough should lift Joaquin on a northerly track by as early as Friday.
Computer forecast products are suggesting that the Outer Banks of North Carolina or the Chesapeake Bay might be dealing with tropical conditions from Joaquin over the weekend. Many of the reliable tracking models do pull the storm onshore anywhere from North Carolina to as far north as New Jersey.