Tropical Depression Two formed on Thursday morning from a tropical wave traversing the waters of the central tropical Atlantic, midway between Africa and the Lesser Antilles Islands. Update: At 2:30 pm EDT Thursday, the National Hurricane Center upgraded TD2 to Tropical Storm Beryl based on satellite data, with top sustained winds estimated at a minimal 40 mph. Beryl is the second tropical storm of the Atlantic season, but it is expected to weaken back to a tropical wave by the time it reaches the Lesser Antilles Islands on Sunday. The Hurricane Hunters are not scheduled to investigate Beryl until Sunday, since the storm is too far from any land bases for the aircraft to fly out of.

 

Satellite images early Thursday afternoon showed that Beryl was a small storm, with only a small amount of heavy thunderstorms.