After a few early season storms, hurricane season 2012 breezed along with only an occasional shower to keep the islands from looking too brown. That changed Monday with the arrival of a tropical wave.
National Weather Service meteorologist Luis Rosa said from San Juan on Monday, “There’s a chance of showers and thunderstorms tonight,” adding that the territory remains under a Flash Flood Watch until Tuesday afternoon, as the tropical wave moves across the Virgin Islands.
A Flash Flood Watch means that conditions are favorable for heavy rain which may lead to flooding.
Rosa said the wave’s accompanying thunderstorms could contain heavy rains and gusty winds. He expects the sustained winds be in the 10 to 15 mph range, but said there was one gust that hit 47 mph at Henry E. Rohlsen Airport on St. Croix at 10:53 a.m.
At Weather Station Zephyr, located at Ajax Peak, St. John, a 32-mph gust occurred at 3:30 p.m. As for rain, a total of .33 inches of rain fell between midnight and 4 p.m. Monday. The total for July stands at 2.06 inches, much lower than the 3.48 inches that fell in July 2011. The July average for the last nine years is 2.76 inches.
It’s going to be wet for the next week, Rosa said.
Further out in the Atlantic Ocean, an area of low pressure associated with a tropical wave has a 20 percent chance of developing into something stronger in the next 48 hours. If it grows strong enough to get a name, it will be Ernesto.
Even if it doesn’t, Rosa said it will still bring “good” winds and heavy rains to the territory Aug. 5 and 6 as it passes south or near the Virgin Islands.
“About seven days from now,” Rosa said.
As for the past few months of dry weather, Rosa said, “It’s been boring.”
