Tropical Storm Jerry could become a hurricane by the weekend, forecasters say. Maps show its projected path.
Tropical Storm Jerry could become a hurricane by the weekend, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said early Thursday.
Tropical storm conditions are possible later today into Friday on portions of the northern Leeward Islands as Jerry passes nearby, forecasters said.
As of 11 p.m. ET Thursday, Jerry's core was some 100 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands, the Caribbean chain east of Puerto Rico that starts with the Virgin Islands and extends down to Guadeloupe.
Jerry had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph as it moved northwest at 17 mph, forecasters said, adding that "gradual strengthening is forecast during the next few days and Jerry could become a hurricane by late Friday or Saturday."
Tropical storm warnings were in effect for Anguilla, Barbuda, Sint Maarten, St. Barthelemy and St. Martin. Tropical storm watches were in effect for Antigua, Montserrat, Nevis, Saba, St. Eustatius and St. Kitts, as well as Guadalupe and the adjacent islands.
Maps show Jerry's path
On the forecast track, Jerry's center is expected to pass near or northeast of the northern Leeward Islands later today and tonight, the hurricane center noted. It wasn't posing any threat to southern Florida.
"Through Friday," the center said, "two to four 4 inches of rain with local storm total maxima to six inches are expected across the Leeward and Virgin Islands. This rainfall brings a risk of flash flooding, especially in urban areas and in steep terrain."
What's more, "Swells generated by Jerry are beginning to reach the Leeward and Windward Islands. These swells will spread westward toward the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico tonight, then toward the rest of the Greater Antilles over the next couple of days. These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions."
Hurricanes this season
Jerry strengthened into a tropical storm Tuesday and is the 10th named storm of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season. It developed on the heels of several Atlantic storms, including Hurricane Humberto and Hurricane Imelda, which emerged at the end of September. Concerns that both could strike Bermuda briefly circulated, but only Imelda ultimately brushed the coast of the island as a Category 2 hurricane before quickly weakening on its way out to the open ocean.
Humberto and Imelda also hit the southeastern United States with destructive surf, causing multiple coastal homes in North Carolina's Outer Banks to collapse.
This has been a relatively quiet hurricane season, which typically runs annually from June 1 to Nov. 30 in the Atlantic. While Jerry is the 10th named storm this year, just one of the nine others — Chantal — actually made landfall in the U.S.
When the current season began, an outlook released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration indicated that between 13 and 19 named storms would form in the Atlantic, with up to nine becoming hurricanes and as many as five strengthening into powerful Category 5 storms. But, as the months progressed, NOAA revised its outlook in August to predict that 13 to 18 named storms would form, including five to nine hurricanes.