Tropical Storm Nigel expected to become a hurricane Monday while Lee, Margot fade
Nigel, the new, strengthening tropical storm to watch in the tropics, is forecast to become the Atlantic season’s fifth hurricane on Monday, forecasters said.
Nigel, the season’s ninth tropical storm, formed Saturday in the central tropical Atlantic, the same day as what had been Hurricane Lee made landfall in Nova Scotia.
Tropical Storm Nigel is expected to become a Category 1 hurricane on Monday while it is northeast of the Lesser Antilles in the far-eastern Caribbean, according to the latest from the National Hurricane Center.
Forecasters are currently predicting Nigel could become a Category 2 hurricane with top winds reaching 100 mph by midweek.
As of 5 a.m. Sunday, Nigel’s maximum sustained winds were at 50 mph, about 980 miles east-northeast of the far eastern Caribbean and moving northwest at 14 mph.
Lee, meanwhile, made landfall as a post-tropical cyclone, coming ashore at about 4 p.m. Saturday on Long Island in western Nova Scotia, after bringing strong winds, coastal flooding and heavy rain to parts of Maine and Atlantic Canada.
Though Lee is far from Florida, swells generated by the large hurricane were creating a high risk of life-threatening rip currents in Palm Beach County, likely to remain through the weekend and into early next week.
The National Hurricane Center is also watching a tropical wave that is forecast to emerge off the west coast of Africa by midweek. As of 2 a.m. Sunday, forecasters are giving the system a 30% chance to form in the next seven days while it moves west across the eastern Atlantic.
As of early Sunday, Margot was barely clinging to tropical storm status with top winds of just 40 mph, 1 mph over the minimum threshold for a tropical storm .Margot was continuing to make a slow loop in the north-central Atlantic. It could degenerate into a post-tropical cyclone later Sunday, according to the latest advisory.
The next named storm would be Ophelia. The season officially runs through Nov. 30.