May 17, 2005 – Don't look for any improvement in the weather at least until late Thursday or Friday or perhaps even the weekend, meteorologist Brian Seeley said Tuesday morning.
"It could be muggy and hot for the weekend," said Seeley, who works at the National Weather Service in San Juan.
The Virgin Islands will see light to moderate rain throughout Tuesday, with thunderstorms a possibility, he said.
The cloudy and often rainy weather began last Thursday. It's been overcast or rainy nearly every day since then, although Saturday did see the sun poke through intermittently.
The unsettled weather is caused by a broad low pressure area sitting south of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, coupled with upper-level conditions favorable for showery weather, Seeley said.
"It's bringing deep-layered moisture up from South America," he said.
He said the territory remains on a flash flood watch until 11:30 a.m. Tuesday.
At Weather Station Zephyr on St. John, about a quarter of an inch of rain fell between midnight and 7:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Although the hillsides are green after a dry winter and cisterns are filling, residents are getting sick of the weather.
"I've had enough," St. John resident Michael Machonis said.
Machonis, who runs a construction crew for Innovative Builders, said first they couldn't get concrete and machinery, now his crew of eight or nine people is losing time because of the rain.
He said the trickle-down effect is enormous. The crew supports families and pays rent or mortgages, so they are feeling the financial pinch.
"Nobody is getting paid," he said.
The crew is off Tuesday because it's too wet to work, went home early Monday because it started to rain and cut the work day short one day last week for the same reason.
He said the mud sticks to his feet and makes it too slippery and dangerous to work. He said it is especially difficult in areas that have recently been excavated.
Machonis said he hopes contractors at the numerous construction projects across the territory have their silt fences up to keep the soil from washing into the ocean.
As for tourists, the happiest campers are honeymooners.
"They did ask how long this was going to go on, though," St. John vacation villa manager Kathy Demar said.
On St. Croix, Anne Matrale said the weather was getting to be a bit much.
Matrale, a New Jersey resident who owns a vacation villa on St. Croix, said she spends enough time on St. Croix not to be too upset by the weather.
However, Demar pointed out that in about 10 days, the territory will see an explosion in the mosquito population.
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