BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – JAMAICA and the eastern portion of Cuba are under a hurricane warning, as they are expected to be directly impacted by Tropical Storm (TS) Sandy during the upcoming 48 hours.
The Miami-based National Hurricane Center has informed that as at 11:00 p.m. last night (Oct. 23), TS Sandy was located approximately 195 miles to the south of Kingston Jamaica and about 370 miles to the south-southwest of Guantanamo, Cuba.
And travelling in a north-north-easterly direction at a rate of 10 miles per hour, Sandy should make land fall sometime today.
“On the forecast track…the center of Sandy is expected to move near or over Jamaica on Wednesday, move near or over Eastern Cuba Wednesday night or Thursday morning, and approach the Central Bahamas on Thursday,” the NHC informs.
It is expected that by the time TS Sandy reaches near Jamaica and Cuba, it would have strengthened into a Category One Hurricane.
In its current state, the tropical storm has maximum sustained winds of 60 miles per hour and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward for up to 140 miles from the storm’s centre.
The portions of Cuba that are under hurricane warning are Camaguey, Las Tunas, Granma, Santiago De Cuba, Holguin and Guantanamo.
And a tropical storm warning is in effect for Haiti and the central Bahamas while a tropical storm watch is in effect for the southern and northern Bahamas.
SKNVibes understands that as a precaution, schools and offices on Jamaica were closed prematurely yesterday and persons began preparing themselves for the oncoming storm.
Meanwhile, another tropical storm named Tony is causing a stir in the Atlantic and the projected path suggests that it is not expected to make landfall, at least not during the next three days.
The system – as at 11:00 last evening – was located at 26.7 north and 49.2 west or approximately 1505 miles from The Azores. With maximum sustained winds of 40 miles per hour, it is moving towards the north east at 12 miles per hour.
