Thursday, August 14, 2008

small storm passes close

This is from one of the weather sites i go to. I had been watching this weather all yesterday as the forecast track changed putting it closer to us. I am the only tour company that cancelled tours today (and we took plenty of grief from hotels, reps and guests for cancelling). What would you do if you read this and looked at all the sat and radar sites for the area showing the small storm tracking to us? Here read this:

Thursday 14 August, 2008, 8amAST - Small craft precaution, all zones. Small craft advisory pre-posted for tonight z710 (offshore Atlantic). No watches, warnings or advisories in effect at this time. Please check NWS-SJU for latest. Showers this morning moving over local area from NE. There will be more later today, tonight, tomorrow. Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert has been issued which covers our area. First visible satellite this morning shows the area of developing convection, note the 'tail' of showers extending down through Martinique. NHC's tropical weather discussion at 8am continues to fix the low S of convection, at 16N 61W. Moving NW, this will bring the low across the local area. Marine forecast this morning for zone 730 which includes much of VI and offshore Caribbean, pegs winds higher in this zone than any other. Though not yet posted, I would expect a small craft advisory in effect by tonight for all VI zones. The WSW component during the night is of particular interest to mariners for tonight's dock/anchoring:* TODAY NE 14-19 KT SEAS 3-5 FT SCATT SHWRS AND ISO TSTORMS. * TONITE N 14-19 KT SHIFTING TO THE W/SW 23-28 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. SEAS 3-5 FT SCATT SHWRS AND ISO TSTORMS. * FRI S 16-21 KT SEAS 4-5 FT SCATT SHWRS AND ISO TSTORMS. * FRI NT SE 11-16 KT SEAS 2-4 FT SCATT SHWRS AND ISO TSTORMS. Even if most of the precipitation passes to our north, not yet certain, depending upon the development of this system today, rare gusts in squalls up to 45kt are possible, along with dangerous cloud-to-surface lightning.