Hurricane Oscar Forms: What to Know About New Storm Off the Bahamas

Hurricane Oscar has formed off the coast of the Bahamas, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Saturday.

The storm poses potential threats to surrounding areas of the southeastern Bahamas and is expected to bring hurricane conditions and produce a storm surge on the Turks and Caicos Islands, with heavy rainfall, the NHC said.

In response, the Bahamas government has issued a hurricane warning for the Turks and Caicos Islands and parts of the southeastern Bahamas. Meanwhile, Cuban authorities have placed the provinces of Guantánamo, Holguín and Las Tunas under a hurricane watch as the storm approaches.

Oscar is packing maximum sustained winds of 80 mph, with stronger gusts in some areas. The storm’s center is located approximately 165 miles southeast of the Bahamas and about 470 miles east of Camagüey, Cuba, making it a concern for communities in the region.

Just hours before Oscar took shape, Tropical Storm Nadine formed off Mexico’s southern Caribbean coast. Nadine has already brought heavy rainfall and stormy conditions to parts of Belize and the Yucatán Peninsula.

A tropical storm warning is in place for Belize City, extending along the coastline from Belize to Cancún, Mexico, including the island of Cozumel.

The NHC said Nadine was just 20 miles east of Belize City, moving inland with winds clocking in at 13 mph and a maximum of 50 mph.

The storm is expected to continue tracking across Belize, northern Guatemala and southern Mexico throughout Sunday, raising concerns about potential flooding and infrastructure damage.

Newsweek reached out to the NHC via email for further comment.

Concerns about tropical storm activity heightened in the U.S. last week. People feared another tropical storm could take aim at Florida shortly after back-to-back hurricanes Milton and Helene ravaged the Sunshine State. However, most spaghetti models—computer models illustrating potential storm paths—anticipate that AL95, a system in the northwestern Caribbean, will cut west across Central America or Mexico.

One model shows the storm curving northeast toward Florida. However, WFLA-TV chief meteorologist Jeff Berardelli previously told Newsweek that a cold front in Florida would temporarily protect the state from tropical storm activity.

Another model shows the storm heading north toward Texas, which is also unlikely given disruptive winds off the Texas coast this time of year.

However, over the past week meteorologists have been watching the Caribbean region for development since earlier this month.

A NHC spokesperson previously shared the following update with Newsweek:

“Widespread showers and thunderstorms continue across the northwestern Caribbean Sea in association with a broad area of low pressure that is gradually becoming better defined to the north of eastern Honduras. Environmental conditions appear conducive for some additional development over the next day or so, and a short-lived tropical depression or storm could form before the system moves inland over Belize and the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico on Saturday.

“Regardless of development, locally heavy rainfall is likely across portions of Central America and southern Mexico through the weekend,” the update continued. “It has a medium (50 percent) chance of formation in the next 48 hours and in the next 7 days.”

Both storms are now being closely monitored as meteorologists anticipate further developments in the coming days.