Tropical Storm Dolly Forms in Atlantic: Heavy Rain and Gusty Winds Target Lesser Antilles (Video)

Tropical Storm Dolly has formed in the Atlantic Ocean, east of the Lesser Antilles and could bring gusty wind and heavy downpours to the islands beginning Saturday afternoon.

What AccuWeather Hurricane Experts are Forecasting:

• Widespread rainfall of 2-4 inches across the northern Lesser Antilles, with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 12 inches
• Wind gusts of 40-50 miles-per-hour with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 60 mph across Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Sint Maarten, Guadelupe and Montserrat where Dolly is expected to first interact with land
• Tropical Storm Dolly is a Less Than 1 on the AccuWeather RealImpact™ Scale for Hurricanes

AccuWeather hurricane experts forecast Dolly will lose its organization as it crosses over the islands, where it will experience strong wind shear, dry air, and land interactions that will prevent it from rapidly intensifying.

Could Tropical Storm Dolly Get an Encore?

AccuWeather Lead Hurricane Expert Alex DaSilva says reorganization is a very real possibility as the wave moves north and west of Hispaniola. Further west in the northern Caribbean the wave could reorganize and restrengthen, bringing impacts to the southeastern U.S. later next week.

“There is certainly a chance for this wave to bring rain to Southeastern U.S. one way or another. The question is in what form?” said DaSilva. “If the storm can stay together long enough, conditions more conducive to organization around the Bahamas could allow Dolly to reorganize, but if the storm just gets ripped apart by the shear and land interactions it may never redevelop. In that situation any potential impact on the U.S. mainland will be minimal.”