The above satellite image of Tropical Storm Katia was just taken a few moments ago. The system is currently located way out in the Tropical Atlantic, about 1285 miles East of the Leeward Islands, and moving toward the West/Northwest at 20 mph.
Maximum sustained winds were estimated at 70 mph, and the minimum central pressure was 29.23 inches of mercury (990 millibars), as of the 5pm EDT National Hurricane Center (NHC) Advisory.
The current "official" NHC forecast calls for Katia to become a hurricane later this evening or tonight, and to make a gradual Northwest turn by this weekend:
This forecast basically lies down the middle of the current computer model composites, which continues that general trajectory between Bermuda and Puerto Rico by the first of next week:
After that time, several factors will come into play, both at the surface and middle through upper levels of the atmosphere, which will impact the track of Katia. At this time, those factors would tend to suggest curvature toward the Northeast before the system nears the U.S. Coast. It's still too early to pinpoint this, but we'll have to keep a very close eye on Katia over the coming days until the future path for next week becomes more certain.
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