The NBC2 First Alert Hurricane Team is tracking Tropical Storm Ernesto moving over the Leeward Islands Tuesday morning.
Tropical Storm Warnings are in effect from the Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands to Puerto Rico.
MORE: Maps, models and spaghetti plots
As of 5 a.m. Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center shows Ernesto with sustained winds of 40 mph. The storm is racing to the west at 20 mph.
Ernesto is forecast to impact Puerto Rico tonight through Wednesday morning before the storm takes a sharp northward turn over the western Atlantic.
The current forecast has the hurricane intensifying into a Category 2 storm as it moves in the general direction of Bermuda this weekend.
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Computer forecast models are in strong agreement on this northward turn, making this a high-confidence forecast in terms of the storm's track.
A front moving off the east coast of the U.S. will help deflect the storm away from the U.S. mainland, so the storm is not a threat to Florida.
The rest of the tropical Atlantic is quiet for now, but it's important to stay updated as we head into the peak of the hurricane season.
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