Tropical Storm Gonzalo Expected to Become 2020’s First Atlantic Hurricane

Tropical Storm Gonzalo is expected to strengthen into the first hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic season as early as Thursday, forecasters said.

The system, which became a tropical storm on Wednesday, was over the central Atlantic and moving west at 14 mph with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph at 11 a.m. on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. Hurricane watches were issued for Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

The storm is expected to move west to northwest and into the eastern Caribbean early next week.

Dennis Feltgen, a meteorologist and spokesman for the National Hurricane Center in Miami, said it was too early to speculate on the storm’s potential impact on the United States.

“It’s way too far out,’’ he said on Thursday. “Right now, our focus is on the Windward Islands.” The group of islands, including Saint Lucia and Grenada, are located in the southern Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean.