It’s official: the National Hurricane Center has upgraded Tropical Depression #16 to Tropical Storm Otto and the official forecast strengthens it to hurricane strength in the coming days.

At 1:00pm ET, the center of Tropical Storm Otto was located near latitude 11.5 North, longitude 79.3 West. Otto is nearly stationary, and a west-southwestward to westward drift is expected over the next couple of days.

Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 50 mph (85 km/h) with higher gusts. Additional strengthening is forecast during the next 48 hours, and Otto could become a hurricane during the next couple of days.

Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 35 miles (55 km) from the center.

The estimated minimum central pressure is 1000 mb (29.53 inches).