Tropical Storm Emily has formed in the eastern Caribbean Sea, after looking very promising for the last few days. It's a weak tropical storm (40 MPH winds) and it's expected to gradually strengthen as it heads off towards the northwest through the week.
Puerto Rico is under a Tropical Storm Warning as Emily is expected to clip the island on Tuesday and Wednesday. It will make a direct landfall on the Dominican Republic on Wednesday, where it will cause major flooding and mudslide problems for the DR and Haiti.
Emily is expected to re-emerge in the Atlantic after being torn up by the mountains of Hispaniola, and steadily strengthen as it moves towards Florida and the Bahamas. Right now, the National Hurricane Center expects Emily to be a minimal hurricane as it comes extremely close to a Miami-area landfall on Saturday.
Keep in mind that lots can change in a week, so anyone in the Caribbean or the American Southeast needs to keep an eye on this storm. Hurricane Kos will provide more updates as Emily nears the United States mainland.
Here is the forecast track from the NHC. Keep in mind that the storm can be anywhere within the "cone of uncertainty." Click to enlarge.
Here's the forecast wind probability table, showing the probabilities of Emily have certain wind strengths at 12 hour intervals. The forecast wind speeds are at the bottom. Click to enlarge.
Here's the current satellite image of Emily, from Wunderground. Click to enlarge.
Here are some links to help you track Emily and any other storms that form this year:
National Hurricane Center
National Weather Service
Storm Prediction Center
FEMA
NHC Satellites
College of DuPage GOES Satellites
Wunderground Tropical Site
Florida State University Tropical Forecast Models
DailyKos Tropical Weather Link Library
6:34 PM PT: As usual, keep politics, meta, pie fights and dickish comments out of here. The people in the threatened areas appreciate it.