TheDailyMail.com
- The storm, which has formed off the Florida coast, will be dubbed Ophelia once it is found to have wind speeds of at least 39 miles per hour
- It has been named Potential Tropical Cyclone 16 and is expected to become a tropical storm as it approaches the coast of North Carolina from Friday
A Tropical Storm Warning has been issued by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) for areas including Cape Fear, Albemarle and Pamlico Sound in North Carolina as well as southern Delaware, southeastern Virginia and parts of Chesapeake Bay.
Residents in these areas have been told to follow the advice given by local officials while the warning is in place.
Coastal communities from North Carolina to the Delmarva Peninsula are also under a Storm Surge Warning or Watch.
Potential Tropical Cyclone 16 is located around 345 miles southeast of Charleston, South Carolina and is moving north at a speed of nine miles per hour.
It currently has maximum sustained winds of 35 miles per our with higher gust winds.
The storm will continue to head north early on Friday before it makes a north-northwestward to northward motion which will continue into the weekend.
The center of the system will approach the North Carolina coast on Friday night and early Saturday morning before Potential Tropical Cyclone 16 continues north near or through Virginia and Maryland.
A large portion of the Interstate 95 corridor is within the track until Monday morning, this includes Washington D.C., New York City and southern New England.
Potential Tropical Cyclone 16 is expected to cause a life-threatening storm surge along the coast and produce heavy rain and strong winds.
It is expected to bring several inches of rain from Florida to the Northeast and New England.
Strong winds pushing in from the ocean could also lead to both coastal flooding and flash floods.
Potential Tropical Cyclone Sixteen could produce two to four inches of rain, according to weather forecasters, with up to six inches across eastern portions of the mid-Atlantic states from North Carolina to New Jersey.
Areas in the Northeast and southern New England could have two to three inches of rain fall.