Tropical Storm Katia forms Tuesday

As expected, the large tropical wave that moved off western Africa into the Eastern Atlantic earlier this week has strengthened enough to earn a name: Katia (pronounced KAH-tya). Here is the Tuesday Morning (Eastern Time) view of the Tropics, with Tropical Storm Katia in the bottom right in the red:

Our newest Tropical Storm of the 2011 season will also likely become our second hurricane (Irene was the first) within the next two days, and our second major hurricane by this weekend! Why will this happen? Because Katia will be moving over very warm, favorable ocean waters on which to feed (plenty of moisture as fuel), and also encounter minimal shear, which allows the storm to organize and intensify. Here's the expected track of Katia, as she moves west-northwest around the base of a large Atlantic High Pressure:

Forecast model data is consistent with this track, and they are all in pretty good agreement of the intensification forecast. Here's a look at that:

Stay with CBS6, we'll keep you ahead of the storm.
--Meteorologist Carrie Rose