Tropical Storm Sam forms; expected to become major hurricane next week

TAMPA, Fla. - Tropical Depression Eighteen has now become Tropical Storm Sam, the 18th named storm of the 2021 hurricane season.

Sam is currently tracking west through the Atlantic Ocean at 16 mph, located more than 1,700 miles away from the Leeward Islands. The forecast path shows it starting to make a northwest turn early next week, says FOX 13’s meteorologist Dave Osterberg.

"That’s a good sign. That’s what you want to see," he offers. "What’s leftover of Peter is going to create a weakness…and help to turn this to the north, we hope."

The National Hurricane Center predicts it will become a hurricane as soon as Friday and reach Category 3 status by early next week.

LINK: Track the tropics with MyFOXHurricane.com

"So, it absolutely bears just watching, in general, to see how this plays out," Osterberg added. "It’s days and days and days away from reaching the islands, never mind anything else. We don’t want to be too speculative from there."