Two more storms gain strength in Atlantic following devastation of Hurricane Helene

The National Hurricane Center is monitoring two more tropical cyclones growing stronger in the Atlantic on Thursday. Hurricane Kirk and Tropical Storm Leslie currently pose no direct threat to land, but threaten to bring more rain to regions already reeling in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

Kirk was upgraded to hurricane status Tuesday night and is now a Category 3 storm, but is expected become stronger over the next few days, according to the NHC. As it moves northwest over the central Atlantic, it could reach Category 4 status.

The NHC classifies this system as a major hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 125 miles per hour and a minimum central pressure of 948 millibars. It’s located 1,185 miles east of the Northern Leeward Islands.

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Because of this, the NHC warns that the Leeward Islands, Bermuda, the Greater Antilles and U.S. East Coast could see life-threatening surf and rip current conditions as swells from Kirk start spreading westward.

Leslie reached tropical storm status Wednesday night and is expected to continue moving slowly westward through Thursday night, followed by a quicker west-northwestward movement over the weekend, according to the NHC.

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With maximum sustained winds of 45 miles per hour and a minimum central pressure of 1002 millibars, the NHC expects the system to strengthen into a hurricane over the next day or so. It’s currently located 515 miles southwest of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands, but there are no hazards affecting land at this time.

The area of highest interest to the NHC, though, is one located in the Gulf of Mexico. It says this area of showers and thunderstorms will likely be very slow-moving and could drop several inches of rain across the Gulf Coast and Florida Peninsula.

Heavy rainfall from this system is not currently expected to affect parts of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia that were hard-hit by Helene.