SKN prepares for Tropical Storm Omar

By Ryan Haas
Reporter-SKNVibes.com

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts-A tropical depression moving through the Eastern Caribbean Sea has strengthened into Tropical Storm Omar this morning (Oct. 14) and may adversely affect the weather conditions of the Federation as early as tomorrow (Oct. 15).

Maurice Mills, Senior Meteorological Officer at the St. Kitts Met Office, informed SKNVibes that the people of St. Kitts-Nevis should be “monitoring the progress of this system, especially as it is expected to turn to the Northeast later today”.

Currently located at a latitude of 14.2° N and a longitude of 69.1° W, or roughly 480 miles to the southwest of the Federation, Omar is moving in a Southeast direction at 3 miles per hour and should begin spinning Northeast toward Puerto Rico by this evening. A gradual quickening in forward motion is expected by tomorrow.

While the storm only had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph as of 11 a.m. today, both the Met Office and the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami have predicted wind strengthening over the next 48 hours. 

According to the NHC, a strengthened Omar could produce anywhere between 4-12 inches of rain across the Eastern Caribbean, which in turn “could produce life-threatening flash floods” in affected areas. 

Tropical storm watches have been issued at this time for Puerto Rico, the British and US Virgin Islands, and the Eastern Dominican Republic. 

The NHC said in its latest release that “a tropical storm watch may be required later this afternoon for the islands of St. Martin, St. Eustatius and Saba”.

Mills said that because St. Kitts-Nevis does not have a tropical storm watch issued for it at this time, predicting rainfall for the Federation will “depend on how the system develops”. He did say, however, that some rain and winds should be expected tomorrow and Thursday.

The 2008 Atlantic Hurricane Season has had fourteen storms develop thus far, with six of those strengthening into hurricanes and three of those (Bertha, Gustav and Ike) reaching a ‘major’ or category 3 status.