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Tropical Storm Sandy , the 18th constitute storm of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season , has take form in the Caribbean Sea to the south of Jamaica .

Formerly Tropical Depression 18 , it wasone of two tropical depression to formin the Atlantic basin today ( Oct. 22 ) .

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This visible image of Tropical Depression 18 was taken from NOAA’s GOES-13 satellite on Oct. 22 at 1145 UTC (7:45 a.m. EDT) just before it was classified as a depression.

Sandy , which currently has maximal free burning winds of 40 mph ( 65 kph ) , is expected to come to Jamaica psyche - on Wednesday , according to the latest U.S. National Hurricane Center update . Its itinerary after that is less certain and fall within a " retinal cone of uncertainness " that forecasters produce based on various model prediction . Sandy does depend to impact Cuba and the Bahamas belatedly in the week though .

The violent storm is expected to bring 5 to 10 inches ( 13 to 25 centimeters ) of pelting to Jamaica , Haiti , the Dominican Republic and eastern Cuba , the NHC said . Some stray spots could see as much as 16 inches ( 40 atomic number 96 ) of rainwater .

Sandy is n’t the only storm swirling in the Atlantic river basin . tropic Depression 19 formed late today and is expected to become Tropical Storm Tony soon . The 2012 hurricane time of year has turned out to be busier than expected .

Tropical depression 18

This visible image of Tropical Depression 18 was taken from NOAA’s GOES-13 satellite on Oct. 22 at 1145 UTC (7:45 a.m. EDT) just before it was classified as a depression.

An update prognosis for the season made in August predicted that there would be between 12 and 17 named storm ( those of tropic storm strength or higher ) , with five to eight of those storms becoming hurricanes . There have now been 18 named storm and nine hurricanes . The most late hurricane was Hurricane Rafael .

Sandy form during the so - called"second peak " of the hurricane time of year , a smaller spike that pass off in mid - October , after the main peak of the season , which occurs around August - September .

There has been some talk of the town in various corners of the internet of Sandy impacting the East Coast next week , merge with a low pressure system coming across North America and creating a " unadulterated storm " that would lend significant snow to the region . While some models suggest this scenario , others show the storm curving out to sea , write Jason Samenow at theCapital Weather Gang web log .

A satellite image of a large hurricane over the Southeastern United States

The bottom line is that it ’s too far out to forecast how Sandy might affect the East Coast .

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