Tropical Storm Henri builds to near hurricane, shifts course for New England

The storm has sustained winds of 70 mph

Amid an already busy Atlantic hurricane season, Tropical Storm Henri is projected to strengthen into hurricane by Friday.

On Thursday, Henri was located 510 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and less than 800 miles south of Nantucket, Massachusetts. The storm has sustained winds of 70 mph and moving west at 9 mph.

But The National Hurricane Center (NHC) says the storm is likely to make a change in direction on Friday and will move north for the rest of the weekend. The NHC also said the tropical storm’s swells will reach the US East Coast and Atlantic coast in Canada and could cause life-threatening surf and rip currents.

As Henri strengthens, the NHC said it’s possible that storm surges, wind, and rain will hit parts of the northeastern US late this weekend or early next week.

"A turn toward the northwest is forecast on Friday, followed by an acceleration toward the north and north-northeast Saturday and Sunday. On the forecast track, the center of Henri will remain well offshore the east coast of the United States over the next couple of days but could approach southeastern New England on Sunday," the NHC said.

There are no evacuation orders for northeastern residents so far.

Henri formed on Monday, joining two other storms barreling through the Atlantic during hurricane season.

On Thursday, Hurricane Grace made landfall near Tulum, Mexico, which is to the south of Cancun. The hurricane brought strong winds and heavy rain to the eastern coast of the Yucatan. Tourists were shuttled to shelters and government officials asked businesses to close temporarily.

Before Hurricane Grace made landfall in Mexico, it brought heavy rains to Haiti just as the country was recovering from a 7.2 magnitude earthquake that killed more than 2,100 people.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Fred, which made landfall in Florida’s panhandle on Monday and left one man dead following a car crash, is expected to bring heavy rainfall to New Hampshire on Thursday.

A United Nations climate report found that the climate crisis is likely to contribute to making hurricanes more powerful and more frequent.