Swells from Major Hurricane Sam are expected to reach the coast on Friday and continue into the weekend as it spins well offshore.
The Category 4 hurricane strengthened again early Thursday, with its top sustained winds reaching 145 mph. It is still on track to pass east of Bermuda Friday and Saturday, but its larger size means there is a chance tropical storm force winds will reach the island. For that reason, a Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for Bermuda.
Swells are likely to contribute to a heightened rip current risk from Florida to the Carolinas lasting through the weekend before subsiding early next week.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Victor was located 550 miles from the Cape Verde Islands early Thursday. It is forecast to become a hurricane Friday and turn northward over the open ocean this weekend. The other tropical wave forecasters were monitoring a few hundred miles west of Victor has weakened considerably and is no longer expected to develop.
Neither Victor nor Sam are expected to directly affect the U.S. coastline, but hurricane season continues through the end of November. Climatologically, tropical storms are more likely to form in the Caribbean, southwest Atlantic, and Gulf of Mexico during the month of October.
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