Tropical Storm Lisa forms in central Caribbean; expected to become hurricane

Tropical Storm Lisa formed Monday in the central Caribbean from a system known as Potential Tropical Cyclone 15, and it’s expected to be at hurricane strength by midweek, according to the National Hurricane Center’s latest advisory.

As of 11 a.m. Monday Lisa was located 175 miles south of Kingston, Jamaica, and 375 miles southeast of Grand Cayman.

It was producing maximum sustained winds of 40 mph and moving west at 14 mph. Its tropical-storm-force winds extended out 105 miles from its center.

Jamaica remained under a tropical storm watch Monday.

Lisa is expected to approach Central America by Wednesday.

It could bring 1 to 2 inches of rain to this week to portions of Haiti, the Dominican Republic, the Cayman Islands, northern Honduras and eastern Nicaragua.

Belize and Jamaica could see flash flooding and 3 to 5 inches of rain, with localized totals of up to 8 inches in Belize, the National Hurricane Center said.

The storm currently poses no threat to Florida.

[ STAY UPDATED with the latest forecast for tropical weather at SunSentinel.com/hurricane ]

There have been six tropical storms, two hurricanes and two major hurricanes, Fiona and Ian, so far this season.

NOAA has predicted between two and six more hurricanes to form before hurricane season officially ends on Nov. 30.

The next named storm to form will be Martin.