National Hurricane Center Gives Emily 80 Percent Chance of Re-Forming

Tropical Storm Emily, weakened after passing over mountains in the Dominican Republic on Thursday, has an 80 percent chance of re-forming and strengthening within the next 48 hours, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

The remnants of the storm could be forming a tropical depression as it approaches Grand Bahama Island and the Abacos, the Miami-based center said in an advisory posted on its website at 2 p.m. New York time. A U.S. Air Force Reserve plane was sent to determine whether a depression has formed.

Environmental conditions arent favorable for the system to gain significant strength, though it may bring squalls and heavy rainfall to parts of the northwestern Bahamas today as it moves north over the island chain and into the open Atlantic tomorrow, the agency said. The earlier advisory at 8 a.m. had forecast a 70 percent chance of the system re-forming.

Forecasters said earlier that the mountains in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, some of which rise to 10,000 feet, could tear Emilys structure apart and break the storm up before it could re-enter the Atlantic and threaten the Bahamas and possibly Florida.

Emily formed last Monday in the Caribbean Sea about 50 miles southwest of the island of Dominica. The storm was the fifth named system of the Atlantic hurricane season.