(RNN) - The National Hurricane Center reports Tropical Storm Maria is expected to gain strength through the weekend and become a hurricane by late Monday. On Saturday night, Maria was about 590 miles east-southeast of the Lesser Antilles with maximum sustained winds at 50 mph.
There are hurricane watches for Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis and Montserrat, and tropical storm watches are in effect for St. Lucia, Martinique, Dominica, Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Guadeloupe..
Meanwhile, Hurricane Jose is about 485 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph. The hurricane center says the category 1 storm could bring rain and wind to the northeastern US later this week.
A third storm, Tropical Storm Lee, formed earlier Saturday in the eastern Atlantic and is moving westward. The storm is at 720 miles west-southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands with maximum sustained winds at 40 mph.
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