The U.S. Virgin Islands are on a tropical storm warning as of 5 a.m. as Tropical Storm Maria, which had appeared to be weakening Thursday, regained strength Friday morning, with the center shifting a bit north.
“The storm has grown significantly overnight,” Brian Seeley, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in San Juan, said at 7 a.m. Friday.
As of the 5 a.m. update from the National Hurricane Center, Maria has winds of 40 mph with higher gusts. Tropical storm force winds extend outward 175 miles, mainly to the north of the storm’s center. Maria is moving west northwest at 18 mph.
Seeley said the storm’s large size means that residents shouldn’t focus on the center but rather on the entire system. He said the strongest winds will be to the north and northeast of the center.
As things now stand, and Seeley stressed that the track could change a bit as Maria gets closer, the center should be just southeast of St. Croix around 2 p.m. Saturday. The center will move west northwest, putting it close to St. John later Saturday. He said that hurricane hunter aircraft are scheduled to fly into the storm Friday morning, which will give forecasters a better fix on the situation.
He said the weather should start going downhill late Saturday morning on St. Croix and by early afternoon on St. Thomas and St. John.
“But you should be preparing today,” he said, referring to Friday.
Some strengthening is possible over the next 48 hours, but as the forecast currently stands, sustained winds should be around 35 to 45 mph with gusts ranging from 50 to 60 mph.
“But the storm has a lot of real estate left with very warm waters. It could intensify quickly,” Seeley warned.
He said residents should expect four to eight inches of rain. Given that the soil is already wet from earlier rains, Seeley said flooding is likely.
Additionally, residents should prepare for 10 to 12 hours of tropical storm conditions, Seeley said. He said that residents should expect the rain to last through Sunday and perhaps into Monday.
Maria is centered at 13.8 degrees north latitude and 56.2 degrees west longitude. This puts its current location 655 miles east southeast of St. Thomas.
The barometric pressure stands at 1003 millibars.
