Tropical Storm Victor took shape tonight as what was originally categorized as Tropical Depression #20 blossomed into a more robust tropical cyclone. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) expects additional intensification and Victor should become a hurricane by Friday.

According to the latest forecast advisory from the NHC, Victor is located about 540 miles south of the Cabo Verde Islands in the eastern Atlantic. With maximum sustained winds of 40 mph, the storm is moving to the west northwest at 13 mph. Minimum central pressure is 1005 mb or 29.68″. The NHC expects it to turn more northwest with time before degenerating over time in the middle of the Northern Atlantic.

With the name “Victor” used for this system, the National Hurricane Center only has one more name to use in the 2021 Atlantic Hurricane Season tropical cyclone name list: Wanda.  With the NHC tracking other disturbances and there being more than 8 weeks left in the 2021 hurricane season, it is likely Wanda will be used and more names will be needed.  Unlike in previous years where the NHC would switch over to letters of the Greek alphabet, this year they would pull from an extra list of names in alphabetical order. A decision was made earlier this year to change the naming process when the first batch of names is used up. Should a storm beyond Wanda require a name, the next storm name to be used would be Adria.