Tropical Storm Ophelia to make Comeback as Philippe Churns in Atlantic [MAPS]

The remnants of Tropical Storm Ophelia appear primed to make a return appearance off the coast of the Northern Leeward Islands on Tuesday.

Ophelia initially grew into a tropical storm on Sept. 20 and fell apart five days later, the result of strong wind shear.

The low pressure system is currently located east-northeast of the Northern Leeward Islands and has an 80 percent chance of becoming a tropical cyclone during the next 48 hours.

This system is now a couple hundred miles east-northeast of the Leeward Islands, but there is no real defined center, so it's hard to pin down the distance, said Michael Brennan, Senior Hurricane Specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

The storm is producing a large area of showers and thunderstorms, and surface and satellite observations indicate that the system has a broad circulation.

Generally it looks like it will turn to the northwest and then to the north, so it should stay well east of the U.S. and maybe even pass to the east of Bermuda, Brennan said on Tuesday.

Upper level winds are once again favorable for some additional redevelopment as the storm moves northwestward during the next 48 hours.

Heavy rains are possible over portions of the Northern Leeward Islands through Wednesday. It's still too soon to say what, if any, impact the storm would have on the U.S. East Coast if it does in fact regenerate.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Philippe continued to churn northwestward with little change in strength.

According to the 5 a.m. EDT alert from the National Hurricane Center in Miami, the storm is located about 735 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph. Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward 85 miles from the storm center.

Philippe is moving northwest at 7 mph, and that general motion is expected to continue through Wednesday. The storm is expected to remain at its current strength and stay a tropical storm though Sunday.

On its current path, Philippe should remain in the open Atlantic.

According to Brennan, the two storms in the Atlantic may be some of the last spawned by waves off the African coastline this year.

In October, the focus shifts into the Caribbean and the Gulf (of Mexico) where systems can form that can threaten Florida, Brennan said. We are certainly not out of the woods yet.