Aug. 25, 2008 — A hurricane warning was issued for much of the south coast of the Dominican Republic Monday, as the National Hurricane Center in Miami upgraded the tropical depression in the central Caribbean to Tropical Storm Gustav.
As of 2 p.m. AST, the storm was about 300 miles southwest of Puerto Rico and moving northwest at nearly 14 mph, taking it well away from the Puerto Rico/Virgin Islands vicinity. "On the forecast track, the center of Gustav will be moving near or over southwestern Haiti on Tuesday," said hurricane specialist Daniel Brown in a statement.
The Virgin Islands will still see bands of showers and thunderstorms associated with Gustav through Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service office in San Juan, P.R. Seas of up to 5 feet and strong winds in excess of 20 knots will also create rough conditions for mariners, at least through Monday.
Meantime, a tropical wave several hundred miles east-northeast of the V.I. is bringing showers and cloudiness with it, but upper-level winds are not favorable for development, the hurricane center said.
