Tropical Storm Fred Nears Dominican Republic

• Published Aug. 10, 2021Updated Aug. 11, 2021, 9:30 a.m. ET

Tropical Storm Fred moved person to the superior of the Dominican Republic connected Wednesday, bringing with it the imaginable of dense rainfall earlier it sweeps toward Haiti, Turks and Caicos and the southeastern Bahamas.

In an 8 a.m. update, the National Hurricane Center said a tropical tempest informing was successful effect for parts of the southbound seashore of the Dominican Republic and on its borderline with Haiti connected the land of Hispaniola. A tropical tempest ticker was successful effect for parts of Haiti, the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas, wherever rainfall forecasts were somewhat lower.

A tropical tempest informing has been lifted for the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, which had been swept by rainfall and upwind since Tuesday arsenic the tempest moved northwest toward the Gulf of Mexico. The hurricane halfway warned of up to 4 inches of rainfall successful Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, and said immoderate areas could spot up to six inches, starring to flash flooding.

The storm, which formed precocious Tuesday nighttime arsenic the sixth named tempest of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, was astir 50 miles southeast of Santo Domingo, the Dominican capital, connected Wednesday morning, the hurricane halfway said. Maximum sustained upwind speeds were astir 40 miles per hour.

The halfway of the tempest is expected to beryllium adjacent oregon implicit Hispaniola connected Wednesday, earlier moving to the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas connected Thursday, and past the bluish seashore of cardinal Cuba connected Friday.

It volition past caput northwest into the Gulf of Mexico, adjacent Florida, according to a hurricane halfway forecast. Wind and rainfall could endanger Florida by Friday, but forecast details were inactive unclear, the hurricane halfway said.

A large United Nations clime report released Monday warned that nations had delayed curbing their fossil-fuel emissions for truthful agelong that they could nary longer halt planetary warming from intensifying implicit the adjacent 30 years, starring to much predominant life-threatening vigor waves and terrible droughts. Tropical cyclones person astir apt go much aggravated implicit the past 40 years, the study said, a displacement that cannot beryllium explained by earthy variability alone.

Ana became the archetypal named tempest of the play connected May 23, making this the seventh twelvemonth successful a enactment that a named tempest developed successful the Atlantic earlier the authoritative commencement of the play connected June 1.

The astir caller named tempest successful the Atlantic was Hurricane Elsa, successful aboriginal July. Elsa chopped done Cuba and past Florida, yet making its mode into New York City, wherever dense rainfall from the tempest flooded subway stations and roadways.

In May, scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast that determination would beryllium 13 to 20 named storms this year, six to 10 of which would beryllium hurricanes, and 3 to 5 large hurricanes of Category 3 oregon higher successful the Atlantic. Last week, successful a midseason update to the forecast, they continued to pass that this year’s hurricane play would beryllium an supra mean one, suggesting a engaged extremity to the season.

Matthew Rosencrans, of NOAA, said that an updated forecast suggested that determination would beryllium 15 to 21 named storms, including 7 to 10 hurricanes, by the extremity of the play connected Nov. 30.

Last year, determination were 30 named storms, including six large hurricanes, forcing meteorologists to exhaust the alphabet for the 2nd clip and determination to utilizing Greek letters.

It was the highest fig of storms connected record, surpassing the 28 from 2005, and included the second-highest fig of hurricanes connected record.

Jesus Jiménez and Christine Hauser contributed reporting.