ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Tropical Storm Rina formed Thursday morning over the central Atlantic Ocean, indicating hurricane season is still going full steam ahead.
The 40-mph storm is located east of the northern Leeward Islands, according to the National Hurricane Center's latest advisory. It's slowly moving off to the north-northwest.
This largely northwestern track is expected to continue for the next several days. At this time, forecasters don't expect it to impact the Caribbean Islands — let alone any land for the foreseeable future.
Weather computer models, including the American GFS and European, appear to keep the storm at sea and even east of Bermuda into late next weekend.
Elsewhere in the tropical Atlantic, Tropical Storm Philippe continues to struggle somewhat while moving westward toward the northern Leeward Islands. It's anticipated the storm will get picked up by a ridge, causing it to move northward and away from the islands before some possible interaction with Tropical Storm Rina.