U.S. weather forecasters are monitoring two tropical storms expected to get stronger Thursday.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami says Tropical Storm Gonzalo was centered in the Atlantic Ocean about 1,800 kilometers east of the southern Windward Islands Wednesday evening with top sustained winds at 85 kph.
Forecasters said if the storm keeps on its present easterly track, it could be at hurricane strength sometime Thursday and approach the Windward Islands by the weekend.
There are no watches or warnings so far.
Gonzalo is the seventh named storm in what is expected to be a busy Atlantic hurricane season. It is also the earliest in the season that a storm starting with “G” has formed.
In the Pacific Ocean, Hurricane Douglas is getting stronger and could build into a major hurricane sometime Thursday.
Douglas was 2,500 kilometers southwest of Baja California, late Wednesday with top sustained winds of 130 kph.
As of now, the storm poses no threat to land, but the National Hurricane Center is urging “interests in the Hawaiian Islands” to monitor its progress.