Tropical Storm Josephine closer to land, Kyle moving away

MIAMI » Tropical Storm Kyle moved away from the midAtlantic coast of the United States Saturday afternoon as Tropical Storm Josephine continued its crawl north of islands in the Caribbean.

Threats to land appeared to be minimal from both storms, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center’s 5 p.m. advisories. Kyle was centered 715 miles (1,150 kilometers) southwest of Cape Race, Newfoundland, Canada, while Josephine was 160 miles (255 kilometers) northeast of the northern Leeward Islands.

Josephine had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph, forecasters said, and was tracking west-northwest at 17 mph, while Kyle was churning east-northeast at 22 mph (35 kph). Kyle’s maximum sustained winds were clocked at 50 mph.

No coastal watches or warnings were in effect for either storm. Josephine was forecast to bring 1 to 3 inches (3 to 8 centimeters) of rain to parts of the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

It’s been an active Atlantic hurricane season and forecasters predict several more named storms are on the way.

So far this year, Cristobal, Danielle, Edouard,

Fay, Gonzalo, Hanna, Isaias, Josephine and Kyle have set records for being the earliest named Atlantic storms of their respective place in the alphabet. Only Hanna and Isaias this year have developed into hurricanes.

Before Kyle, the earliest “K-named” storm was Katrina, which formed Aug. 24, 2005, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.