Aug. 28, 2003 – Tropical Depression 10 escalated into Tropical Storm Fabian late Thursday afternoon, and forecasters expect it to be a hurricane by Sunday.
The storm still is expected to pass about 200 miles north of the Virgin Islands late Tuesday and early Wednesday.
"But the system could easily move on a more westerly track and affect us," Ernesto Morales, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service station in San Juan, said.
However, he said, if the storm continues on its present course, the Virgin Islands should see only choppy seas.
The 5 p.m. Thursday update had Tropical Storm Fabian centered at 15.2 degrees north latitude and 39.2 degrees west longitude, or about 1,000 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands of Africa's West Coast. The system had sustained winds of up to 45 mph with gusts up to 60 mph and was moving west at 21 mph.
Meanwhile, Morales said, another weather system, a tropical wave, that's heading for the Virgin Islands area should bring showers on Sunday. That wave shows no signs of strengthening, he said.
Fabian is the sixth tropical storm of the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season. Colorado State University forecaster William Gray has predicted that 14 named storms will form this year, with eight becoming hurricanes and three developing into intense storms. Hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30.
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