Posted on 08/03/2006 6:26:39 AM PDT by new yorker 77
Tropical Storm Chris rapidly ran out of steam Thursday morning as it pushed across the eastern Caribbean, prompting forecasters to say it was unlikely to become a hurricane.
At 8 a.m. EDT, Chris had top maximum sustained winds of 40 mph, just 1 mph above the minimum to be a named storm and down 20 mph from Wednesday night, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. The center of the storm was about 285 miles east-southeast of Grand Turk Island.
The third named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season was moving west-northwest near 12 mph and was expected to move away from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands later Thursday, forecasters said.
"It's pretty much a skeleton at this point," hurricane specialist Jamie Rhome said. He said the thunderstorms that a tropical system needs to grow have been blown away by other winds in the atmosphere. Forecasters now think it isn't very likely that it will become a hurricane, but intensity predictions are tough to make.
"Some storms do make a comeback and some storms never ever come back," he said.
The government of the Bahamas downgraded its hurricane watch to a tropical storm watch for the Turks and Caicos Islands and for the Southeastern Bahamas, including the Acklins, Crooked Island, The Inaguas, Mayaguana and the Ragged Islands.
A tropical storm watch remained in effect for the coast of the Dominican Republic from the northern border of Haiti to Cabo Engano. A tropical storm watch means tropical storm conditions are possible within the next 36 hours.
Authorities in the Bahamas, an archipelago of 700 islands accustomed to stormy weather, had earlier urged people to stock up on water and canned food and to board up their windows as the storm approached.
In Staniel Cay, about 75 miles south of Nassau, the Bahamas' capital city, boat owners secured their vessels and tracked the storm's progress through the eastern Caribbean.
"We're just battening down the hatches and tying everything down," said Ernie Sullivan, a boat owner at the Staniel Cay Yacht Club. "You just can't say if this thing will pick up steam."
Some 600 tourists evacuated Culebra and Vieques, small islands off Puerto Rico's east coast, as the storm approached. The storm was projected to pass at least 100 miles north of Puerto Rico.
People in the islands of Antigua and St. Maarten awoke to a light rain. There were no reports of major flooding or other damage from the storm.
Royal Caribbean, the cruise line operator, said it was altering the itineraries of three ships — the Navigator of the Seas, the Explorer of the Seas and the Freedom of the Seas — to avoid the storm.
In Anguilla, Chris brought heavy rain and strong winds overnight but the storm was much less severe than expected because it shifted to the north at the last minute, said Elizabeth Klute, director of the disaster management agency for the British Caribbean territory.
"It just kind of skirted us," Klute said. "It's moving on."
The first named storm of the 2006 season, Tropical Storm Alberto, swept over Florida in mid-June, then plowed northward along the U.S. coast. It was blamed for one death.
Last season was the worst in more than 150 years of records. A record number of tropical storms and hurricanes formed, including the devastating Hurricane Katrina.
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On the Net:
National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
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Now you've jinxed us...
In a few years the next "Chris" will be Cat 5 death machine that sinks Florida...
Will the MSM morn this hurricane abortion? It should have had a chance to live, nee thrive. Oh the humanity.
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