A new tropical storm has emerged in the tropical Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday.

Tropical Storm Tammy has become our 19th named storm of the season, excluding the unnamed subtropical storm in January 2023.

As of Tammy’s first advisory, the tropical storm has wind speeds of 40 MPH and is moving quickly to the west at 23 MPH. Tropical storm watches have been issued for portions of the Lesser Antilles including: Barbados, Dominica, Martinique, and Guadeloupe.

Tammy is forecast to turn west-northwest by Thursday night, followed by a turn to the northwest near the Leeward Islands late Friday or Saturday. It will not move towards the United States.

While gradual strengthening is expected, Tammy is not currently forecast to become a hurricane. There are no other areas being watched for development during the next 7 days.

The only two names remaining on the 2023 Atlantic named storm list are Vince and Whitney. If those names get used, a supplemental list will be used from the World Meteorological Organization.

While ocean temperatures near the U.S. coast have started to cool off due to the fall cold fronts, sea surface temperatures in the central tropical Atlantic are still fairly warm in the mid-upper 80s.

Tropical activity thrives when water temperatures are warm and weak upper-level winds. We generally don’t see hurricanes develop in waters under 80°. Ocean temperatures will continue to decline over the next month. Hurricane season continues through November.