Tropical Storm Ernesto forms

Forecasters are continuing to watch a tropical system in the Atlantic that has now strengthened enough to become Tropical Storm Ernesto.

Overnight, wind shear and dry air both took a toll on the developing system. But as of the 5 p.m. update, the depression's winds had jumped to 50 mph -- a significant increase from earlier in the day.

The National Hurricane Center still expects the system to continue heading west.  Long-range forecasts have it continuing to head west into the Caribbean.

"Models are in pretty good agreement with the track of Ernesto in the short term," FOX 13 meteorologist Lindsay Milbourne explained.  "In the long term, the 12Z GFS brings either a strong tropical storm or a hurricane into the Yucatan Channel on Wednesday and eventually into the Gulf of Mexico later in the week."

LINK: Track Tropical Storm Ernesto on MyFoxHurricane.com