Tropical storm expected near Caribbean

A system growing in the Atlantic should become a tropical storm by Thursday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center warned Wednesday.

As a result, tropical storm watches were issued for Barbados, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St. Lucia and St. Vincent.

Maximum sustained winds were at 35 mph and the storm was moving west-northwest at 18 mph.

"The center of the tropical cyclone should be near the Windward Islands on Friday," the service said in an advisory.

The next named Atlantic storm will be Ernesto.

The 2012 Atlantic hurricane season has gotten off to a slow start, with the last named storm being Debby, which drenched parts of Florida in June and claimed eight lives.

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