Joaquin becomes hurricane, could bring high winds and flooding to East Coast

Joaquin is no longer a tropical storm as the U.S. National Hurricane Center upgraded it to a hurricane early Wednesday.

Weather.com noted that Hurricane Joaquin is forecast to wreak havoc on the Bahamas and also threaten the East Coast possibly bringing strong wind gusts and heavy rainfall later in the week.

Accuweather.com reported that while the storm is currently a Category 1 hurricane, it could pick up strength and become a Category 3 before moving up the Eastern seaboard.

It is early in mapping Joaquin’s path toward the U.S. and some experts are torn as to whether or not it will make landfall on Sunday between North Carolina and New Jersey or if it will stay offshore. The American GFS model shows the storm coming ashore at the Virginia and Maryland coastlines while the European ECMWF model predicts that Joaquin will stay away from the coast. No matter which path Joaquin takes though the region is still likely to receive a significant amount of rainfall.

As for the Pacific, a storm named Marty off the coast of Mexico has weakened to a tropical depression.

For more daily news stories follow Michelle on Twitter @PhilaMichelle

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