Tropical Storm Cristobal Moving North, Hits Parts of the Bahamas

— -- Tropical Storm Cristobal was moving slowly northward near the southeastern Bahamas Sunday afternoon, and was expected to bring heavy rain and gusty winds to the Turks and Caicos as well as portions of the Bahamas.

According to an advisory from the National Hurricane Center late this afternoon, the storm had sustained winds at 45 mph and was moving north at 8 mph. Tropical Storm Warnings were issued late this afternoon for the central Bahamas and discontinued for southeastern portion of the Bahamas as well as the Turks and Caicos.

Even though the worst impacts from Cristobal have passed by the Turks and Caicos, very heavy rain brought flooding that washed out roads and made travel difficult on Sunday.

There was a significant shift in the forecast track this evening, compared to earlier advisories. Cristobal is still forecast to slowly strengthen over the next 48 hours and should become a hurricane sometime Wednesday.

There is no direct impact expected for the United States, but there will likely be rough surf and dangerous rip currents along the East Coast for the next several days. This could disrupt beach plans from Miami to Virginia Beach heading into Labor Day holiday weekend.

Hurricane Hunters, which fly into tropical systems to investigate their development and grab the latest atmospheric data on the storm, caught a unique glimpse of the third tropical system of the Atlantic Hurricane Season forming from above.