Trop­i­cal Storm Jer­ry is con­tin­u­ing to strength­en as it ap­proach­es the Lee­ward Is­lands.

In the lat­est up­date at 11 am (lo­cal time) from the Mi­a­mi based Na­tion­al Hur­ri­cane Cen­ter, the cen­tre of the storm was lo­cat­ed near lat­i­tude 15.9 North, lon­gi­tude 59.1 West.

Jer­ry is mov­ing to­ward the west-north­west near 18 mph and a turn to­ward the north­west is ex­pect­ed late Thurs­day, fol­lowed by a slight­ly slow­er north­ward mo­tion on Fri­day and Sat­ur­day.

On the fore­cast track, the cen­tre of Jer­ry is ex­pect­ed to pass near to the north­east of the north­ern Lee­ward Is­lands lat­er Thurs­day.

Max­i­mum sus­tained winds are near 65 mph with high­er gusts and grad­ual strength­en­ing is fore­cast dur­ing the next few days, as the fore­cast states that Jer­ry could be­come a hur­ri­cane by late Fri­day or Sat­ur­day.

Mean­while, the gov­ern­ment of An­tigua and Bar­bu­da has is­sued a Trop­i­cal Storm warn­ing for Bar­bu­da.

In ad­di­tion, a Trop­i­cal Storm Watch is in ef­fect for An­tigua, An­guil­la, St. Kitts, Nevis, and Montser­rat, St. Barthele­my, St. Mar­tin, Sint Maarten, Sa­ba and St. Eu­sta­tius, Guade­loupe and the ad­ja­cent is­lands.

A Trop­i­cal Storm Warn­ing means that trop­i­cal storm con­di­tions are ex­pect­ed some­where with­in the warn­ing area, in this case with­in 12 hours.

A Trop­i­cal Storm Watch means that trop­i­cal storm con­di­tions are pos­si­ble with­in the watch area, gen­er­al­ly with­in 48 hours.

The Na­tion­al Hur­ri­cane Cen­ter in Mi­a­mi says in­ter­ests else­where in the north­ern Lee­ward Is­lands and the British and U.S. Vir­gin Is­lands should mon­i­tor the progress of Jer­ry. —BRIDGETOWN, Bar­ba­dos (CMC)