Updates on Storms, Cruise Ships, COVID, and Monkeypox
Weather trackers are eyeing two new disturbances off the coast of Africa as Tropical Storm Earl moves north of St. Thomas; an upcoming business forum aims to help St. Croix business owners maximize cruise ship profits; and the U.S. Virgin Islands continues to dodge monkeypox with no confirmed cases as yet, said officials at a Government House briefing Tuesday.
2022-09-07 15:17:28 - VI News Staff
Tropical Storm Earl will continue to churn up rough weather as it veers further north of the territory, said Daryl Jaschen, director of the Virgin Islands Territorial Emergency Management Authority. Weather warnings had been dropped, although Jaschen warned heavy rain, lightning, stiff winds, high waves, and rip currents are all possible for several days, especially in the east. Associated flooding and mudslides were also possible.
“Earl is forecast to maintain its strength today followed by intensification resuming tomorrow. Earl is turning toward the north, moving away from the territory, at 5 miles per hour,” he said.
Earl had moved 370 miles north of St. Thomas by midday Tuesday. There were two new disturbances forming off the African Atlantic coastline, however, Jaschen said.
The first, located southeast of the Cape Verde Islands, could form a tropical depression as it moved westward at 15 to 20 miles per hour, he said. There’s a 40 percent chance the wind will organize into a depression in the next two days and a 60 percent chance in the next five days, Jaschen said. The second was a tropical wave currently on the African coast. It is forecasted to emerge off the shore in less than two days. There was a 20 percent chance the disturbance could organize.