The Atlantic basin is lit up with storms and areas of interest, but it’s really just two that bear watching…

First up, Hurricane Fiona continues to intensify east of the Bahamas. As of 8pm Wednesday, it was a category 4 storm with max sustained winds of 130 mph.

Little change in intensity is expected as it passes just to the west of Bermuda on Friday. It will lose tropical characteristics this weekend, but that doesn’t change the fact that it will bring hurricane-like conditions with wind gusts over 100 mph to parts of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

The area that will be an even larger talking point over the next several days is what is currently headed into the Caribbean Sea. It isn’t much to look at now, but this area of disturbed weather is likely to develop within the next couple of days. Further organization/strengthening is likely over the weekend as it moves toward the western Caribbean. There is fairly good model agreement that there will be a strong tropical storm or weak hurricane nearing the southern Gulf by early next week. Beyond that, questions remain as to where it will ultimately track. As things evolve, we’ll start to get some answers.

For now, there is a large realm of possibilities. Areas of the northern Gulf Coast to the Florida Keys need to be monitoring the progress of this system. We’ll keep you posted, with updates at least once a day here on MyFoxHurricane.com

It’s been a rough Sunday for Puerto Rico. Power is out across the entire island, and the storm isn’t over yet. On top of whipping winds, heavy rain continues to come down. Some spots have already received well over a foot of rain, and downpours are expected to continue through the night. Not only that, but rain chances will likely stay high over the next couple of days. Flooding and possible mudslides are a big threat.

After Fiona pulls away from Puerto Rico, it will begin a turn to the north just east of the Bahamas. While some wind shear may be present, a very moist environment and warm sea-surface temperatures should lead to strengthening in the coming days. Odds are that Fiona will become a major hurricane. The good news is that this will come nowhere near the United States. The only land mass in the way as the storm makes its way into the North Atlantic is Bermuda. It’s a hearty island with a long history of weathering big storms, but significant impacts are possible there if Fiona tracks nearby.