Tropical Storm Debby is strengthening steadily and may become a hurricane on Tuesday, according to an interim advisory from the National Hurricane Center issued at 8 p.m. Monday. Projections call for the brunt of the storm to be felt locally between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tuesday.
At 8 p.m., the center of the storm was located at 16.4 degrees north latitude, 60.2 degrees west longitude, about 380 miles east-southeast of the Virgin Islands. Maximum sustained winds were reported at 70 miles per hour, with higher gusts especially to the north and east.
A Category 1 hurricane, the weakest of five categories, is defined as having surface winds of 74 to 95 mph.
Debby was moving to the west-northwest at 20 miles per hour, and that motion was expected to continue.
The estimated minimum central barometric pressure was 1006 millibars, or 29.71 inches.
A storm surge 1 to 3 feet above normal tide levels is expected. Rainfall could total as much as 4 to 6 inches and could produce dangerous flash flooding, the advisory said.
Knight Quality Stations meteorologist Alan Archer on Monday night outlined a timetable for Debby's landfall across the region based on the current track. "We anticipate Debby arriving at Antigua around 3 a.m., the British Virgin Islands at daybreak, and the U.S. Virgin Islands around midday," Archer said. The storm system is then expected to move just to the north of San Juan on Tuesday afternoon.
"Our worst weather should come between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., with minimal hurricane-force winds and rainfall associated with Debby," he said, adding, "The storm system is moving quickly through the region; therefore, we should see a marked improvement in the weather by late Tuesday and a return to normal weather on Wednesday."
Satellite photos late Monday showed a storm system not quite as organized as earlier in the day, Archer noted.
Advisories on Tropical Storm Debby are being updated every three hours by the National Hurricane Center. The next complete advisory will be at 11 p.m. Monday. The latest on the tropical storm can be obtained by calling 774-4786.
