Tropical Storm Ophelia Forms

It’s been more than a week since a named tropical storm hovered in the Atlantic, but a late Tuesday evening advisory by the National Hurricane Center changed that.

Follow the latest updates on Ophelia.

Ophelia is the 15th named tropical storm to form in the Atlantic this hurricane season. At this point, forecasters say it’s nothing to worry about.

“Tropical Storm Ophelia has formed over the central tropical Atlantic Ocean and is expected to gradually strengthen while moving toward the Caribbean into this weekend,” wrote the Weather Channel in an evening forecast. Ophelia “appears unlikely to affect the mainland U.S., but (it’s) too soon to be 100 percent certain.”

Currently, the storm has winds of 40 mph, and it is moving west at 9 mph. There are no coastal watches or warnings in effect. The Weather Channel predicts the storm will move west over the next few days with its current track putting it near the Leeward Islands late Saturday and near Puerto Rico on Sunday.

The 2011 hurricane season has been above average. There have been 15 named storms, but the season continues until late November. That’s plenty of time for more threats, so on Monday, Weather Service International increased its prediction for the number of storms this hurricane season.

“The 14 storms during the first half of the season occurred at a near-record pace; and we have increased our numbers from 18 to 21 to account for the high first-half numbers,” said WSI Chief Todd Crawford. “Due to the reduced instability, we have reduced our hurricane total from eight to seven, while maintaining our major hurricane total at four."