A disorganized cluster of rain showers and thunderstorms in the Atlantic Ocean became more organized during the past few hours Friday and has turned into a tropical storm named Odette, the National Hurricane Center said.
Tropical Storm Odette, the 15th named storm of the active 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, was spinning about 250 miles east of Norfolk, Virginia and about 225 miles southeast of Cape May, as of late Friday afternoon.
As of 5 p.m. Friday, its top sustained winds were 40 mph, making it a low-level tropical storm.
The good news is the storm continues to move north and east — out in the open Atlantic and away from the eastern United States — at a pace of 15 mph. So its impacts will be minimal, according to forecasters.
Some of the storm’s outer bands have brought scattered rain showers to parts of New Jersey on Friday, but forecasters are concerned that large ocean swells could generate dangerous rip currents along the Jersey Shore Friday evening through Saturday evening.
Another storm system being watched
Forecasters are also tracking a tropical disturbance much farther away from the United States, about halfway between the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean Sea and the Cabo Verde Islands off the coast of Africa.
The National Hurricane Center said conditions are favorable for that disturbance to turn into a tropical depression this weekend or early next week as it moves west to northwest across the central tropical Atlantic. It is expected to move near the northern Leeward Islands by Monday and Tuesday.
Forecasters say there’s a 70% chance a tropical depression will form within two days and an 80% chance a depression or tropical storm will develop within five days.
Prior to Tropical Storm Odette, six of the named storms in the Atlantic this year strengthened into hurricanes and three of those — Grace, Ida and Larry — became major hurricanes.
Last year’s hurricane season set an all-time record, with 30 named storms and 12 that made a direct hit on the United States. In addition, 2020 was the fifth consecutive hurricane season that was more active than normal.
Current weather radar
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Len Melisurgo may be reached at LMelisurgo@njadvancemedia.com.
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