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Hurricane watches have been issued for small islands off the coast of Nicaragua as Tropical Depression 13 in the southern Caribbean Sea near the coast of South America looks to gain strength in the coming days and eventually threaten Central America with hurricane-force winds.
Tropical Depression 13 is expected to organize into a tropical storm on Friday and then a hurricane over the weekend as it heads towards the coast of Nicaragua and Honduras.
Once this system’s winds reach at least 39 mph, it will be named Tropical Storm Julia, making it the 10th named tropical cyclone in the Atlantic basin this season. It will then become a hurricane if its winds reach at least 74 mph, which the NHC expects to happen by Sunday as it approaches Central America.
Tropical Depression 13 is centered about 60 miles south-southeast of Curaçao in the so-called ABC island chain.
This system still has maximum sustained winds of 35 mph and is moving westward at about 15 mph.
Tropical Depression 13 is forecast to organize into a tropical storm on Friday and a hurricane by Sunday as it approaches the coast of Nicaragua. It will be called “Julia” once the NHC officially declares it a tropical storm.
A tropical storm is a tropical cyclone with maximum sustained winds between 39 and 73 mph. The NHC assigns names to tropical storms using the official name list for that season developed by the World Meteorological Organization.
