USA: Tropical Storm Josephine closer to land, Kyle moving away

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Miami (US), Aug 15 (AP/PTI) Tropical Storm Kyle was moving away from the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States late Friday as Tropical Storm Josephine continued its crawl toward islands in the Caribbean.

Threats to land appeared to be minimal from both storms, according to the US National Hurricane Centre's 11 pm advisories.

Kyle was centred 250 miles (400 kilometres) east-southeast of Atlantic City, New Jersey, while Josephine was 375 miles (600 kilometres) east of the northern Leeward Islands.

Both storms had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kph) and were moving 16 mph (26 kph), forecasters said. Kyle was inching east-northeast away from land, while Josephine was sliding west-northwest toward the islands.

No coastal watches or warnings were in effect for either storm. Josephine was forecast to bring 1 to 3 inches (3 to 8 centimetres) of rain to parts of the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

It's been an active Atlantic hurricane season and forecasters predict several more named storms are on the way.

So far this year, Cristobal, Danielle, Edouard, Fay, Gonzalo, Hanna, Isaias, Josephine and Kyle have set records for being the earliest named Atlantic storms of their respective place in the alphabet. Only Hanna and Isaias this year have developed into hurricanes.

Before Kyle, the earliest K-named storm was Katrina, which formed August 24, 2005, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.

Isaias killed two people in the Caribbean earlier this month. Several others across multiple US states were then killed when the storm made landfall in North Carolina and moved through the East Coast, leading to floods, tornadoes, fires, and widespread power outages.

Last month, Hurricane Hanna slammed the Texas Gulf Coast with high winds and rains that flooded streets and knocked out power across the region.