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The National Hurricane Center announced on Thursday, Aug. 13 that it upgraded Tropical Depression Eleven to Tropical Storm Josephine.
On Friday morning, Aug. 14, Josephine's center is located over the Atlantic Ocean about 680 miles (1090 km) east-southeast of the northern Leeward Islands, the area where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean.
It's moving toward the west-northwest at about 17 miles per hour with that general motion expected to continue for the next couple of days followed by a turn toward the northwest late this weekend or early next week, the National Hurricane Center said.
Maximum sustained winds are near 40 miles per hour with higher gusts.
Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 80 miles from the center.
Some strengthening is expected to occur during the next day or so, according to the Hurricane Center.
For a look at the five-day projected path for the storm, see the image above.
Josephine marks the earliest appearance of the "J' storm since the satellite era began in 1966. The previous record was held by Tropical Storm Jose on Aug. 22, 2005.
Hurricane turned Tropical Storm Isaias (pronounced "ees-ah-EE-ahs") became the earliest storm to begin with an "I" on record. The previous record was set on Aug. 7, 2005.
The first hurricane of the 2020 season, Hannah, became the earliest storm with an "H" name by nearly two weeks.
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