Ernesto was still a hurricane on Tuesday morning as it moved away from Newfoundland and into the open Atlantic Ocean.

The National Hurricane Center said Ernesto, the third hurricane of 2024 in the Atlantic, should lose its tropical features today and become a post-tropical storm.

It was racing northeastward in the Atlantic, away from any land areas.

As of 5 a.m. CDT Tuesday, the center of Hurricane Ernesto was located about 150 miles east-northeast of Cape Race, Newfoundland, and was tracking to the northeast at 36 mph.

Ernesto was a minimal Category 1 hurricane with 75 mph winds, the hurricane center said.

There were no watches or warnings in effect for Ernesto.

However, the hurricane center warned those along the northeast coast of the U.S. that waves from Ernesto could continue to cause deadly rip currents along the beaches, as well as in Atlantic Canada and Bermuda.

Rip currents caused by Ernesto are being blamed for at least three deaths in the U.S., according to reports.

Ernesto made landfall on Bermuda on Aug. 17 as a Category 1 hurricane with 85 mph winds. It also brushed Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands earlier in the week, knocking out power to thousands and causing flash flooding.

ANYTHING ELSE OUT THERE?

The climatological peak of the Atlantic hurricane season is quickly approaching on Sept. 10, but the rest of the tropical Atlantic was very quiet as of Tuesday morning.

The hurricane center has not highlighted any other areas in the tropical Atlantic to watch for potential development.

That is expected to change over the remainder of the hurricane season, which is expected to be very active.

NOAA’s latest hurricane season outlook suggests there could be 17 to 24 named storms, eight to 13 hurricanes and four to seven major hurricanes (Category 3 or stronger storms) before the official end of the season on Nov. 30. Those numbers include storms that have already come and gone this summer.

There have been two tropical storms, Alberto and Chris, and three hurricanes, Beryl, Debby and Ernesto.

Each storm has made landfall. Alberto and Chris hit Mexico’s Gulf Coast. Beryl made three landfalls, in the Caribbean, in Mexico and in Texas. Debby had two landfalls, one in Florida and the other in South Carolina.

The next name on the Atlantic storm list is Francine.