MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) - An area of thunderstorms near the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa has become better organized and the National Hurricane Center has upgraded it to Tropical Storm Irma.
The latest forecast track has Irma continuing generally off towards the west over the next five days. Irma is expected to slowly strengthen with an upgrade to hurricane status expected by Friday morning. Conditions appear favorable across the Atlantic for further strengthening beyond five days as well.
Any threat to the US coast is still 10 to 12 days away, and a lot can change between now and then. There are two likely scenarios:
SCENARIO 1 (see image): It gets picked up by a cold front and pushed out to sea. This would be the best option.
SCENARIO 2 (see image): It misses the cold front and could threaten the US East Coast or Gulf Coast.
We will continue to monitor the forecast, but at this point, IF there is any threat, it is still nearly 2 weeks away. This will not be a threat for Labor Day Weekend.
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