While the Mid Atlantic through Northeast mops up after Hurricane Irene swept the area last week, hurricane experts in Florida have turned attention to Tropical Storm Katia, which was upgraded from a tropical depression Monday night.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami says Katia will still be well east of the Lesser Antilles Friday, but is expected to grow into a hurricane by then. Center forecasters are not yet saying whether the storm will threaten the eastern United States.
Katia was about 630 miles west south west of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands (latitude 12.3 north, longitude 33.4 west) at 11 a.m., moving west at about 18 mph.