Too Soon to Worry about Ophelia

Tropical Storm Ophelia strengthened some overnight and into Wednesday, but forecasters predict some leveling off in strength, and already today the storm’s strength has plateaued.

Follow the latest updates on Ophelia.

Ophelia is expected to continue a westward path and will gradually turn toward the west-northwest on Friday, according to a 5 p.m. forecast from the National Hurricane Center.

“Little change in strength is forecast during the next 48 hours,” the forecaster wrote. “Tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 230 miles … from the center of the storm.”

Thursday afternoon, the storm was producing average winds of 38 mph with wind gusts of 45 mph.

The Weather Channel casts doubt on Ophelia ever impacting the U.S. and says it may only skim some Caribbean Islands.

Ophelia could “move directly over the Leeward Islands, Virgin Islands, and/or Puerto Rico this weekend as a tropical storm, although several models forecast the system to pass northeast of the islands,” the Weather Channel wrote.

Ophelia is moving through strong wind shear, which is fighting the storm.

The storm “appears unlikely to become a hurricane within the next five days due to wind shear, and it is possible it will not even last five days as a tropical cyclone,” the forecaster wrote.

But if the storm dies down to a tropical depression, it could regain some strength over the western Atlantic north of the Caribbean next week.