Tropical Storm Dolly has erupted in the Atlantic Ocean, and early forecasts warn that the cyclone could be headed directly towards the US East Coast.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) announced that Dolly had quickly developed into a tropical storm at 11am ET on Thursday.
It jumped past the first stage of cyclone development, known as a tropical depression, bursting to life with sustained winds of more than 40 mph.
Early spaghetti models, which track all possible paths of tropical storms and hurricanes, show a strong likelihood that Dolly will barrel directly towards Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
From there, multiple tracks predict the storm will reach Cuba, the Bahamas and the coast of Florida.
One track from the American model, known as GFS, suggested that Dolly could move as far north as the Carolinas. However, forecasting models can shift dramatically once storms form and get closer to making landfall.
NHC officials have noted that Dolly may be a 'short-lived tropical storm' which encounters strong wind shear in the Atlantic that prevents it from becoming a hurricane.
Heavy rainfall is still expected to impact the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Hispaniola this weekend.
This is a breaking story. More details to follow.
Tropical Storm Dolly (Pictured) formed in the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday, August 27
Forecasting models predict that Tropical Storm Dolly will follow a straight path to the Caribbean islands and US East Coast
