Ingrid forms in far Atlantic

Newly upgraded from a tropical depression, Tropical Storm Ingrid moved slowly tonight through the distant Atlantic and forecasters said its growth prospects seemed limited during the next few days.

The storm remained about 800 miles from the outer Caribbean islands and more than 2,000 miles from Florida.

The five-day forecast, subject to a wide margin of error, carried the system on a northwest course that avoided the Caribbean, but still pointed in the general direction of the Bahamas.

Ingrid was moving very slowly, though, and its future strength was in doubt.

Hostile crosswinds from the east relented Wednesday and allowed the storm's sustained winds to grow to 40 mph, just beyond the 39-mph threshold of a tropical storm.

But Ingrid soon is expected to confront crosswinds from the west that will limit its ability to intensify, according to forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami-Dade County.