At 3:15 p.m. EDT (1915 UTC) on 24 August, a reconnaissance flight determined that a tropical wave passing through the Windward Islands had developed a closed tropical circulation, and advisories were commenced on Tropical Depression Five. By 5 p.m. EDT (2100 UTC) on 25 August, a second flight had found sustained tropical-storm force winds, and the system was named Ernesto. Ernesto became a hurricane on the morning of 27 August just south of Haiti, before it was downgraded back to a tropical storm in the afternoon. The storm caused 2 deaths in Haiti due to rainfall.