Oscar, which became a tropical storm Saturday, is strengthening and expected to become a hurricane later Sunday but land isn’t threatened.
Oct. 28 (UPI) — Oscar, which became a tropical storm Saturday, is strengthening and expected to become a hurricane later Sunday but land isn’t threatened, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Oscar, the 15th named storm this season, was about 815 miles east-southeast of Bermuda and 780 miles northeast of the Northern Leeward Islands, the National Hurricane Center said in its 5 a.m. advisory. It was moving southwest at 12 mph with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph. If Oscar reaches 74 mph, it will designated as a hurricane.
Seven named storms became hurricanes this season.
No coastal watches of warnings are in effect. Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 115 miles
from the center.
NHC forecasters say a turn toward the west at a slower forward speed is expected later Sunday and
followed by a turn toward the northwest Monday. Then, Oscar is forecast to begin moving toward the north Monday night or Tuesday, and then head northwest away from the United States by Wednesday.
„There are tightly curved cloud bands very near the center indicating a well-organized
cyclone,“ NHC forecaster Richard Pasch wrote in a discussion . „Oscar should remain in a moderate vertical shear environment… for the next couple of days. Near or just beyond 96 hours, the shear is forecast to increase substantially and Oscar should begin to make the transition to an extratropical cyclone.“
