ABC NewsBy MAX GOLEMBO, ABC News
(NEW YORK) — There were 158 damaging storm reports from Florida to Wyoming Tuesday, including seven reported tornadoes in Wisconsin and Illinois with some minor damage reported there.
Also on Tuesday, 60 to 70 mph wind gusts produced damage to mobile homes and some buildings in North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Florida.
On Wednesday, the same storm system that brought all those tornadoes to the Midwest will move into the Northeast with damaging winds being the biggest threat along with a small chance for tornadoes in upstate New York.
Meanwhile, there will be a tropical threat for the Caribbean and the Gulf Coast over the next few days.
Tropical Depression Seven which is east of the Caribbean Wednesday morning is about to become Tropical Storm Gonzalo.
If it becomes a storm, it will be the earliest seventh named storm on record this early in the season in Atlantic Ocean.
The path of this depression takes it right over the island of Grenada and just south of Barbados this weekend and into the central Caribbean by early next week, potentially somewhere south of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
It is forecast to become a strong tropical storm as it moves closer to the southern Caribbean islands.
Also, a tropical wave is possible in the Gulf of Mexico Wednesday morning and it is expected to move east towards the western Gulf of Mexico by Friday morning.
At this moment, the National Hurricane Center is giving this system about a 40% chance to develop into a tropical depression or a tropical storm. Should it become one, it would be named Hanna.
Regardless of the storm’s development, heavy rain of 2 to 4 inches is possible for eastern Texas where localized amounts of up to half a foot of water is possible by the end of the week into the weekend.
Last but not least, evacuations are still in effect for the Hog Fire in northern California.
The fire is now 9,000 acres and is only 7% contained with 170 structures currently being threatened.
The West still has six states under Red Flag Warnings and Fire Weather Watches for erratic gusty winds of up to 60 mph and dry lightning.
Wildfires could start easily and spread quickly under these conditions.
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