Emily Upgraded to Tropical Storm

Monday evening, The National Hurricane Center upgraded Emily to a tropical storm, the fifth tropical storm formed this hurricane season.

With winds of 40 mph, the storm is moving at 17 mph toward the Lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico and Hispaniola, but forecasters think by the weekend it could be just off the coast of Florida.

Current paths are very sketchy, forecasters say, so it’s anyone’s guess where Emily will land, or if the storm will turn into a hurricane. The storm could be considerably weakened over rugged Dominican Republic, said West Palm Beach WPBF-TV meteorologist Mike Lyons.

View the WPBF forecast.

Still, there’s some time today for the storm to gain strength.

“These storms need that very warm weather,” said Weather Channel forecaster Chris Warren, during an evening broadcast.

View the Weather Channel forecast.

Five storms are brewing in the tropics: Hurricane Eugene in the Southwest, Emily in the Caribbean and three tropical waves elsewhere.

By the end of the week, when Emily crosses the Bahamas, a high-pressure system is predicted to push the storm in a north – northwest direction. That pushes it a little closer to Florida, and some paths show it in varying directions, including some showing the storm just going adrift into the Atlantic.