Tropical Storm Lee formed Saturday in the Atlantic Ocean, joining Hurricane Jose and a tropical depression soon expected to become Tropical Storm Maria.
Lee is spinning about 655 miles west-southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands in the eastern Atlantic off northwest Africa and packing maximum sustained winds of 40 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Lee isn’t expected to gain much strength over the next 48 hours and will likely fade to a tropical depression by Wednesday without affecting land, the center said.
Farther west in the Atlantic, a system known as Tropical Depression 15 already is getting the attention of forecasters. It’s expected to become Tropical Storm Maria by Saturday evening, CNN meteorologist Gene Norman said.
As a result, tropical storm watches are already in effect for an area including Barbados and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Other islands in the watch include St. Lucia, Martinique, Guadeloupe and Dominica.
Those islands were just brushed by Hurricane Imra less than two weeks ago. It’s possible a hurricane watch will be issued for islands such as Barbuda and Anguilla, which took a direct, deadly hit from Irma on September 6, Norman said.
These new Atlantic systems join Hurricane Jose, a Category 1 storm spinning about 480 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
Jose could bring rain and wind to the US Northeast early next week.