Thursday will be mostly sunny, with isolated showers and a high near 89. Winds will be from the east at 20 to 23 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. Thursday night will be partly cloudy, with isolated showers and a low around 77. Winds will be from the east around 21 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph.
Sustained winds in excess of 17 knots are expected across the area Thursday, with choppy/rough seas up to 7 feet in the local outer waters and the Anegada Passage. There is a high risk of rip currents for all but the west coast of St. Croix, with a moderate risk elsewhere.
IN THE TROPICS
The National Hurricane Center is monitoring a tropical wave over the western tropical Atlantic that continues to produce disorganized showers and thunderstorms. Only slight additional development of this system is anticipated while it moves west-northwestward for the next several days. The wave is forecast to move over the Windward Islands late Friday or early Saturday and then over the eastern Caribbean Sea by the weekend, where further development is unlikely due to unfavorable environmental conditions. The formation chance through five days is low at 10 percent. The U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico may see increased shower activity during the upcoming weekend, according to the National Weather Service in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The NHC also is monitoring two other systems, including one that is producing shower and thunderstorm activity and remains poorly organized with an area of low pressure located over the western Gulf of Mexico. This system is forecast to move slowly westward and approach the coast of southern Texas and northern Mexico later Thursday.
Another system, Potential Tropical Cyclone 2, could bring heavy rain and hurricane or tropical storm conditions to the Caribbean coasts of Costa Rica and Nicaragua late Friday.
Sunrise: 5:48 a.m.
Sunset: 7:01 p.m.
OBSERVATIONS
Wednesday’s high temperature: 87 degrees
Wednesday’s low temperature: 79 degrees
