The Insiders' Guide to St. Barths: Tropical wave heads for Caribbean, eclipsing Debby

Tropical wave heads for Caribbean, eclipsing Debby
Thu Aug 24, 2006 7:28 AM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A strong tropical wave approaching the Windward Islands could strengthen into a tropical depression or tropical storm Thursday, eclipsing Tropical Storm Debby, which was spinning in the Atlantic Ocean, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

NHC said in a tropical weather outlook the wave was well-organized and heavy squalls were beginning to spread over the islands. The Windward Islands include Martinique, Saint Lucia, Barbados, Saint Vincent, The Grenadines, Grenada, and Trinidad and Tobago.

"Conditions appear to be favorable for a tropical depression or a tropical storm to form later today," NHC said early Thursday.

The center scheduled an Air Force Reserve reconnaissance aircraft to investigate the system in the afternoon.

All of the major weather models showed the wave entering the Caribbean Sea over the next day or so.

Four models put the storm in the waters south of Cuba near Jamaica within five days. Another model had the storm crossing the Dominican Republic before approaching the Bahamas over the next five days or so.

If the wave gets into the Gulf of Mexico, it could disrupt the U.S. oil and natural gas producing and refining facilities, damaged last year by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Meanwhile all of the weather models, including the NHC model, projected Debby would not hit land as it continued to move northwest for a couple more days before turning northeast toward Europe later this week.

The NHC expects Debby to strengthen into the season's first hurricane in about three days. If Debby becomes a hurricane, the center projected it would be a weak Category 1 hurricane. Category 1 hurricanes have wind speeds of 74 to 95 mph.

Debby, with winds near 45 mph, was located about 845 miles west-northwest of the Cape Verde Islands.

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