Three tropical systems -- a hurricane, a tropical storm, and a "vigorous wave" - all heading across the Atlantic. And all forecast, at least for now, to turn harmlessly north.
Thank two large high-pressure systems, one off the East Coast and the other in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. In between: a low-pressure "alley" causes the storms to shoot north.
But anyone presuming we're in the clear with all three systems does so at his or her peril, the National Hurricane Center's James Franklin said.
"We're confident with the first (Hurricane Danielle), hopeful with the second (Tropical Storm Earl), and we have not a clue with the third (the wave that might be Fiona)," Franklin, branch chief of the center's forecasting unit, said Friday.
"These patterns are constantly changing," Franklin said. "That's why we don't forecast more than five days in advance."
And, he said, "it's happenstance. Things slide around. Two weeks from now, the steering may be different."
As far away as Danielle is, it is forecast to bring swells, and an increased chance of rip currents, to Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, starting around Saturday night and extending to midweek, according to Brad Diehl, a forecaster at the National Weather Service's Miami office.
"Even now, we've got these easterly swells being generated well ahead of Hurricane Danielle," Diehl said Friday.
Waves will be only 2 to 3 feet, he said, but by Monday winds will increase to 15 to 20 mph, bringing waves up to 6 to 7 feet and increasing the potential for rip currents.
Just after midnight Friday, Danielle became the season's first major hurricane, reaching Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with top sustained winds at 120 mph.
By midday Friday, it was up to a Category 4, with top sustained winds of 135 mph. It was expected to turn almost due north today and pass well east of Bermuda, where a tropical storm watch was posted Friday afternoon.
Earl, meanwhile, was approaching the northern Leeward Islands Friday, and forecasters said it could become a hurricane by Sunday.
A tropical storm watch was posted Friday for the islands of St. Martin and Saint Barthelemy.
And the tropical wave about 200 miles south of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands had a high chance of becoming Tropical Depression 8 or Tropical Storm Fiona by Sunday
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