April 11, 2002 – Get out your snuggies. On Thursday night, temperatures may dip down into the middle to upper 60s at inland higher elevations across the territory, according to a forecaster with the National Weather Service in San Juan.
The cool weather is part of a system that has sent the Virgin Islands rain and wind off and on for much of the last week. "It's been a late winter-type pattern," forecaster Scott Stripling said. "It's winter's last hurrah."
Stripling said a stationary low-pressure system across the central Atlantic Ocean pulled cold weather down from the northern Atlantic to the Caribbean. He said St. Thomas and St. John should see clearer weather Thursday afternoon, but the clouds won't start to leave St. Croix until Thursday night.
While there will still be some clouds and showers again after midnight, the wind should start to shift around to the east-northeast rather than the north-northwest that has predominated all week. "It will be partly cloudy with a 40 percent chance of showers on Friday for the entire territory," Stripling said.
By Saturday, the easterly trade winds will return, and the territory is expected to see mainly morning showers. Sunday night and Monday, more showers are expected.
St. John resident Dennis Demar said that he was cold, "but it's nice for a change." Demar said that rather than the tank top he usually wears, he had to put on a short-sleeved shirt to stay warm.
The territory's tourists don't seem to mind the unusually cool weather, according to several residents who interact with visitors on a daily basis. One restaurant worker reported that some repeat guests told her they had never experienced such weather on previous trips to St. John.
"We're the ones complaining about the cold," said Peggy Blitz, who works at St. John's Caneel Bay Resort.
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