A trop­i­cal storm watch has gone in­to ef­fect for sev­er­al Caribbean is­lands as Trop­i­cal Storm Jer­ry is fore­cast to be­come a hur­ri­cane on Thurs­day.

The Mi­a­mi-based Na­tion­al Hur­ri­cane Cen­ter (NHC) said that the storm is lo­cat­ed about 835 miles east sout east of the north­ern Lee­ward Is­lands and has max­i­mum sus­tained winds of 50 miles per hour (mph).

A trop­i­cal storm watch is in ef­fect for An­tigua and Bar­bu­da, An­guil­la, St. Kitts and Nevis, Montser­rat, St. Barthele­my, St. Mar­tin, Sint Maarten, Sa­ba , St. Eu­sta­tius, Guade­loupe and the ad­ja­cent is­lands.

The NHC said that in­ter­ests else­where in the north­ern Lee­ward Is­lands and the British and U.S. Vir­gin Is­lands should mon­i­tor the progress of Jer­ry, the 10th named storm of this year’s At­lantic Hur­ri­cane Sea­son that ends in No­vem­ber.

The NHC said that Jer­ry is mov­ing to­ward the west-north­west near 23 mph and that this

gen­er­al mo­tion is ex­pect­ed to con­tin­ue with a de­crease in for­ward speed dur­ing the next cou­ple of days, fol­lowed by a turn to­ward the north-north­west and north be­gin­ning on Fri­day. “On the fore­cast track, the core of the sys­tem is ex­pect­ed to be near or to the north of the north­ern Lee­ward Is­lands late Thurs­day and Fri­day. Max­i­mum sus­tained winds are near 50 mph with high­er gusts. Strength­en­ing is ex­pect­ed dur­ing the next few days, and Jer­ry is fore­cast to be­come a hur­ri­cane on Thurs­day,” the NHC said.

The NHC said that on Thurs­day in­to ear­ly Fri­day, rain­fall of be­tween two to four 4 inch­es is ex­pect­ed across the Lee­ward Is­lands with a risk of flash flood­ing, es­pe­cial­ly in ar­eas of high­er ter­rain.

It said swells gen­er­at­ed by Jer­ry are ex­pect­ed to reach the Lee­ward and Wind­ward Is­lands on Thurs­day, then spread west­ward to­ward the Greater An­tilles on Fri­day.

“These swells are like­ly to cause life-threat­en­ing surf and rip cur­rent con­di­tions.”

BRIDGETOWN, Bar­ba­dos, Oct 8, CMC