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MIAMI
<DIV id=isRegion name="isRegion">A tropical depression north of Venezuela was on the verge of strengthening into a named storm Friday, forecasters said.
At 11 a.m. EDT, the depression that formed Thursday had maximum sustained winds near 35 mph, below tropical storm strength of 39 mph, the National Hurricane Center reported. It could become Tropical Storm Ernesto later Friday.
"It's starting to have some of the signs of a tropical storm," said Eric Blake, hurricane specialist. "We have it passing pretty close to Jamaica in a couple of days and slowly intensifying. It could be a hurricane in the northwest Caribbean Sea."
The depression was centered about 340 miles south of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Forecasters said it was moving west at about 15 mph.
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</DIV>
MIAMI
<DIV id=isRegion name="isRegion">A tropical depression north of Venezuela was on the verge of strengthening into a named storm Friday, forecasters said.
At 11 a.m. EDT, the depression that formed Thursday had maximum sustained winds near 35 mph, below tropical storm strength of 39 mph, the National Hurricane Center reported. It could become Tropical Storm Ernesto later Friday.
"It's starting to have some of the signs of a tropical storm," said Eric Blake, hurricane specialist. "We have it passing pretty close to Jamaica in a couple of days and slowly intensifying. It could be a hurricane in the northwest Caribbean Sea."
The depression was centered about 340 miles south of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Forecasters said it was moving west at about 15 mph.
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