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Hurricane Oscar Rapidly Forms In Atlantic With Stronger Winds Than Expected

It's been a busy day in the tropics.

Just hours after Nadine was upgraded to a tropical storm on Saturday, Oct. 19, Oscar quickly strengthened to become a hurricane.

Just hours after Nadine was upgraded to a tropical storm on Saturday, Oct. 19, Oscar quickly strengthened to become a hurricane.

Photo Credit: National Hurricane Center

Just hours after Nadine was upgraded to a tropical storm early Saturday morning, Oct. 19, a brand-new hurricane burst onto the scene.

Oscar, is now near the Bahamas after starting off just north of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean, has been moving westward during the week, and escalated quickly on Saturday, before becoming a Category 1 hurricane in the afternoon.

It has sustained winds of 80 miles per hour with higher gusts, both higher than had been predicted, the National Hurricane Center says.

Just hours before that, it became a tropical storm near the Turks and Caicos islands.

Oscar is expected to move toward Cuba on Sunday, Oct. 20.

According to AccuWeather.com, "The period of strengthening will likely end as it encounters increasing wind shear, which will help to turn it southwestward landfall in Cuba" on Monday morning, Oct. 21. 

"Once it leaves Cuba, it may turn northeastward toward the Bahamas before eventually accelerating into the Atlantic," AccuWeather says.

Nadine is following a westward track in the Caribbean into Belize and the Yucatan Peninsula.

Another system is being tracked in the tropics north of the Dominican Republic. It's now producing an area of showers and thunderstorms.

It's marked with an X and can be viewed by clicking on the second image above.

Patty and Rafael are next on the list of tropical storm names for the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, which runs through Saturday, Nov. 30.

Check back to Daily Voice for updates.

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