Hurricane Humberto Forms, But Expected to Bypass U.S. as Another Storm Hits Caribbean

Humberto, one of several storms the National Hurricane Center (NHC) has been tracking this week, is officially a hurricane.

According to the latest update from the NHC, as of Friday morning, Hurricane Humberto was more than 450 miles northeast of the Leeward Islands, moving northwest at nearly 3 mph. The storm, which is producing winds near 75 mph, is expected to strengthen and could become a major hurricane this weekend.

The good news for the travel industry is that the storm is unlikely to impact travel outside of Bermuda. The storm’s projected path, according to the NHC, will keep it out of the Caribbean and far off the U.S. East Coast. While there could be some high surf along the coast, the NHC currently has no warnings or alerts out for the storm.

Tropical Disturbance Impacts Caribbean Travel

There is another storm in the Caribbean that is impacting some travel. The NHC is also tracking a tropical disturbance near Turks and Caicos that it says will move north toward Turks and Caicos on Friday night.

The NHC says that while the storm is not likely to reach hurricane status, it is still bringing heavy rain and gusty winds to the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Turks and Caicos on Friday, and is likely to do the same to the Bahamas and Eastern Cuba over the weekend.

There is still considerable uncertainty about how the storm will grow and its path over the next few days. The NHC is alerting everyone in the area to keep an eye on the storm, which could very well move up to the Atlantic coast of Florida by early next week.

So far, there has been only one major travel change due to the storm: Carnival Cruise Line said the Carnival Sunrise will visit Half Moon Cay on Friday, Sept. 26 rather than Saturday, Sept. 27 due to potential weather impacts.