BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Tuesday August 25, 2015 – Caribbean residents who were breathing a sigh of relief when Tropical Storm Danny dissipated yesterday are now holding their breaths after Tropical Storm Erika formed overnight, prompting watches for Montserrat, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, Anguilla, Saba and St. Eustatius.
Other territories in the Leeward Islands could also be added to the watch list, the National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said this morning.
Erika developed from that area of low pressure that forecasters were monitoring as Danny weakened.
At 5 a.m., Tropical Storm Erika was 840 miles east of the Leeward Islands, moving towards the west at near 20 miles per hour and carrying maximum sustained winds of about 45 miles per hour.
“A westward to west-northwestward motion with a slight decrease in forward speed are expected during the next 48 hours. On the forecast track, the center of Erika will approach the Leeward Islands Wednesday night and early Thursday,” the NHC said, adding that, by then, tropical storm conditions could be felt in the areas that are now under tropical storm watch.
Forecasters say that the quick moving Erika may then bring more rain to drought-suffering Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Some forecasters say Erika’s future track and intensity beyond that is highly uncertain, due to a potential track over land in the Caribbean and interaction with a wind shear. They say a stronger Erika may get pulled farther northwest, while a weaker Erika would track farther west and south.
Other experts say that Erika could possibly reach hurricane strength by this weekend, as it heads toward the Bahamas.