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Tropical storm Epsilon has formed 735 miles southeast of Bermuda, the National Hurricane Center in Miami announced Monday.
The storm, which is stationary at the moment, has registered maximum sustained winds of 40 miles per hour with higher gusts.
“Gradual strengthening is forecast during the next 72 hours, and Epsilon is forecast to be at or near hurricane strength by early Thursday,” the NHC said in its latest advisory.
The storm is one of two weather systems in the Atlantic basin engaging the attention of forecasters.
The second is a broad area of low pressure in the southwestern Caribbean Sea which is expected to form in a couple of days.
The NHC said some gradual development of this system is possible late this week while it moves slowly northwestward or north-northwestward over the western Caribbean Sea.
Monday’s announcement about the formation of Tropical Storm Epsilon follows an earlier advisory in which the NHC had identified the system as tropical depression 27 and had initially projected it to become a storm Monday night or early Tuesday.
While there are no coastal watches or warnings in effect the NHC has advised interests in Bermuda to monitor the progress of this system.
At 11am the centre of Tropical Storm Epsilon was near latitude 25.6 north, longitude 55.3 west and posed no hazard to land.
“Epsilon is stationary and little overall motion is expected through tonight. A slow west-northwestward to northwestward motion should begin on Tuesday, and this motion should continue through midweek,” the NHC has said.
Forecasters say tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 140 miles primarily to the northeast and east of the centre.
The National Weather Service says this weather system poses no threat to Cayman.
However, it said a tropical wave making its way across the Western Caribbean is expected to produce scattered showers and thunder across the Cayman area for the next 24 hours.
Radar images show scattered showers in and around the Cayman area which are moving towards the southwest.
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