It’s still too soon to know for sure how close Tropical Storm Dorian will come to the Virgin Islands, but Jose Alamo, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in San Juan, said Friday he thinks the center will be about 100 miles north of St. John at 5 a.m. Monday. The track has shifted slightly south since Thursday when forecasters thought it would go 180 miles north of the island.
“There’s a chance it can get closer, especially if it continues to weaken,” Alamo said.
Winds are blowing at 45 mph, down from 60 mph on Thursday, with tropical storm force winds extending outward 70 miles from the center. Alamo said the worst of the winds are to the north and east of the storm, which is good news for the territory.
How strong those winds will blow when it gets to the area remain a big unknown, Alamo said. He said the storm currently is weakening. It could continue to weaken or even strengthen.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty whether it will be a tropical storm, a tropical depression or even the remnants of a depression,” he said.
Not matter what the intensity, Alamo said the territory will get some rain and wind.
The storm is clipping along on a westward track at 22 mph. It’s moving fast and will arrive sooner than predicted Thursday.
Alamo said conditions in the territory should start to deteriorate late Sunday because there is a large area of showers and thunderstorms associated with Dorian.
As of the 5 p.m. update from the National Hurricane Center, the storm is centered at 17.8 degrees latitude north and 45.8 degrees longitude west, putting it about 1,245 miles east of the Virgin Islands.
The barometric pressure stands at 1010 millibars.
Alamo urged residents to monitor the storm.
