Tropical Storm Julia, the 10th named storm of the hurricane season, is expected to form Friday and is forecast to become a hurricane over the southern Caribbean this weekend.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the system is located west-southwest of Curaçao with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph. The system is moving toward the west near 15 mph.
The system is expected to become a tropical storm later Friday morning or afternoon. It will likely strengthen into a hurricane before it reaches Nicaragua and those islands, the NHC said.
The NHC said the storm will likely hit as a Category 1 hurricane, with wind speeds up to about 86 mph. Storm surge could reach up to 6 feet along the Nicaraguan coast as the storm makes landfall.
It is forecast to pass near or over northwestern Venezuela, the Guajira Peninsula in Colombia — South America’s northernmost point — on Friday morning. For the rest of Friday and Saturday, the storm is projected to move across the southwestern Caribbean Sea and near San Andres and Providencia Islands. The NHC said it should near the coast of Nicaragua on Sunday.
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“On the forecast track, the cyclone is expected to move near the ABC Islands, the coast of northwestern Venezuela, and the Guajira Peninsula of Colombia tonight through Friday morning,” the NHC said. “The system is then forecast to move across the southwestern Caribbean Sea, moving near San Andres and Providencia Islands Saturday night, and approaching the coast of Nicaragua on Sunday morning.”
Colombia’s government has issued a Tropical Storm Warning for the coast of Colombia from the Colombia/Venezuela border westward to Riohacha. A hurricane warning has been issued for San Andres, Providencia and Santa Catalina Islands, while most of the Nicaraguan coastline is under a hurricane watch.
Parts of Central America will see between 5 and 10 inches of rainfall, with isolated areas receiving up to 15 inches, the NHC warned.
“This rainfall may cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides through this weekend,” it added.
