Hurricane warning issued
~ Omar expected late today ~
PHILIPSBURG--Omar reached hurricane strength late yesterday and is expected to pass West and North of the local area late today or early Thursday as a category 2 hurricane.
A hurricane warning is in effect for both the Dutch and French sides of the island and there will be no school today.
By 11:00pm yesterday hurricane warnings had been issued for the British Virgin Islands and the islands of Anguilla, St. Kitts & Nevis, Montserrat, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Maarten/St. Martin and St. Barthelemy and the Government of Antigua had issued a tropical storm warning for Antigua, Barbuda and Montserrat.
The Government of the Dominican Republic has meanwhile discontinued the tropical storm watch for the eastern portion of that country, because the storm has taken a more easterly track.
At 11:00pm Tuesday, the centre of Hurricane Omar was located by an Air Force Reserve unit reconnaissance aircraft to be near latitude 14.3 North and longitude 68.1 West or about 315 miles (505km) South-Southwest of San Juan Puerto Rico and about 110 miles (170km) North-Northeast of Curaçao.
Omar was moving toward the Northeast near 6mph (9km/hr) and this motion was expected to continue, with a gradual increase in forward speed expected by this evening and especially on Thursday.
On the current forecast track, Omar was expected to pass over or near the US Virgin Islands Wednesday night.
Maximum sustained winds were near 75mph (120km/hr) with higher gusts and additional strengthening was forecast during the next 48 hours.
Hurricane force winds extended outward up to 15 miles (30km) and tropical storm force winds up to 90 miles (150km). The minimum central pressure estimated from reconnaissance aircraft data was 979mb (28.91 inches).
Omar has the potential to produce total rainfall amounts of 4 to 8 inches over portions of the Netherlands Antilles, with maximum amounts of 12 inches possible.
Total rainfall amounts of 5 to 10 inches with maximum amounts up to 20 inches were considered possible across Puerto Rico and the Northeast Caribbean, especially on Wednesday. These rains could produce life-threatening flash floods and mud slides.
Omar was expected to produce large swells affecting the West- and South-facing coasts of all of the islands of the Eastern Caribbean. These prolonged swells could cause beach erosion and damage to coastal structures.
Meanwhile Tropical Depression Nana out in the Atlantic dissipated on Tuesday, but a small area of low pressure located about 1,075 miles West of the Cape Verde Islands continued to produce a few showers and thunderstorm mainly to the East of the centre. Development of this system was not expected due to strong upper-level winds.
