Overview
- Tropical Storm Dolly formed Thursday, Aug. 27, about 1,555 miles east of the Leeward Islands with sustained winds near 40 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.
- The NHC expects little strengthening over the next 48 hours and forecasts the system will likely lose tropical-cyclone structure as increasing upper-level wind shear and dry air disrupt its circulation.
- Even if Dolly weakens to a tropical wave, its moisture is forecast to bring heavy rain and possible flash flooding to the Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Hispaniola this weekend into early next week.
- Current model guidance and official forecasts keep an immediate threat to the U.S. Gulf Coast and Texas low, though a small chance remains for post‑degeneration regeneration farther west or north and the system will be monitored.
- The storm’s name is a predetermined entry on the World Meteorological Organization’s rotating Atlantic list and is coincidentally the same as the late singer Dolly Parton; names are retired only after storms cause exceptional death or destruction.