Tomas Growing Stronger Quickly

Tropical Storm Tomas formed quickly this afternoon from the disturbance east southeast of Barbados. Air Force reconnaissance found that the system had intensified quickly and has top winds of 60 mph.

Tomas is expected to pass south of Barbados tonight and thread the needle between Grenada and St. Vincent tomorrow morning, entering the southeastern Caribbean. Tomas is not expected to become a hurricane until later Saturday, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see that happen quicker than the forecast.

Tomas will intensify, perhaps rapidly, over the warm waters of the Caribbean. It will steam steadily west northwest, staying well south of Puerto Rico. It will then reach a turning point by Tuesday. Unfortunately, there is a fairly good possibility that the direction it may take will involve serious peril to Jamaica, eastern Cuba, and most seriously to the nation of Haiti as it turns north and northeast. It could be a very major hurricane at that point.

Of course, Haiti is still recovering from the earthquake and does not need to deal with a major hurricane. It was one of our worst fears going into this hurricane season and hopefully it will not come true.

I think that confidence is increasing that Tomas will pose no threat to the U.S., which is great news, but our prayers will be with the people that are in its potential path.

Shary is a strong tropical storm tonight turning to the northeast. It will pass about 75 miles southeast of Bermuda during the early morning hours. Winds will increase to gale force tonight with gusts to gale force continuing in the morning as the storm moves out to the northeast.

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