MIAMI (AP):
A TROPICAl depression has formed in the western Caribbean.
The system could become Tropical Storm Wilma today, which would tie the record for the most storms in an Atlantic season, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
At 5:00 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT), the 24th depression of the busy hurricane season was about 195 miles (314 kilometres) southeast of Grand Cayman and about 85 miles (137 kilometres) southwest of Montego Bay, Jamaica, forecasters said.
The depression had sustained winds near 30 mph (48 kph) and was drifting to the west at 3 mph (5 kph) a motion that was expected to continue through Saturday, forecasters said. Depressions become tropical storms when their winds reach 39 mph (63 kph).
The hurricane centre said a tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch could be issued for Grand Cayman.
If the system becomes Tropical Storm Wilma, it would be the 21st named storm of the season. The only other time that many storms formed since record keeping began 154 years ago was in 1933, when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was United States president and the nation was in the midst of the Great Depression.
The Atlantic hurricane season ends November 30.
