Tropical Storm Earl forms; follows Hurricane Danielle

Tropical Storm Earl formed in the North Atlantic today. The storm currently has 40 MPH sustained winds and is expected to strengthen over the next couple of days. Earl is expected to follow a track similar to Hurricane Danielle but may swing a little more to the west before heading north.

Earl Joins Danielle in the Atlantic (AccuWeather)

Earl has finally been dubbed a tropical storm and will follow nearly in the footsteps of Hurricane Danielle posing a threat for Bermuda only several days later.

AccuWeather.com meteorologists have been monitoring the system's energetic development since it crossed Africa.

Earl is expected to slowly gain strength the next few days and is forecast to reach hurricane status over the weekend northeast of the Leeward Islands.

Earl will assume nearly the same shaped track. However, the system is centered farther south than Danielle and could track farther to the west as a result, according to tropical weather expert Dan Kottlowski.

Earl will likely become a Cat 1 hurricane by the weekend and may even grow to Category 2 storm before reaching Bermuda.

Danielle has struggled with some wind shear that has reduced her intensity from a Cat 2 to currently a Cat 1 with 85 MPH sustained winds. Overnight, Danielle actually dropped back to a Tropical Storm briefly with winds as low as 70 MPH but was quickly back to hurricane strength by morning.

As Danielle moves northwards towards Bermuda, it is expected to strengthen and may even become a major Cat 3 hurricane before reaching the island. Danielle's track has shifted to the east slightly placing Bermuda solidly within the cone of uncertainty (See Weather Channel graphic on previous post).

Earl's track could potentially past east of Bermuda a few days after Danielle passes either over or slightly west of Bermuda. This would give Bermuda a pretty heavy ONE-TWO punch by the middle of next week.