The system, officially called “Potential Tropical Cyclone Eighteen,” was in the Caribbean south of Jamaica and had sustained winds of 35 miles per hour on Sunday afternoon. Storms get names once they contain sustained winds of 39 m.p.h or more. The next name on the 2024 list is Rafael, the 17th storm of this year’s Atlantic hurricane season.

Potential Tropical Cyclone 18 is producing a large area of showers and thunderstorms. It is forecast to become a tropical storm later today and a hurricane by Wednesday as it nears western Cuba. The official track has it moving into the Gulf of Mexico and tracking towards the Gulf Coast states by the end of the week.

Potential Tropical Cyclone No. 8 has formed in the southwestern Caribbean this afternoon. This system will likely strengthen further and soon become Rafael as it makes its journey to the north. A hurricane is possible as it nears Cuba and sits underneath an upper-level anticyclone,