OT: Hurricane Dean Headed Directly Towards Jamaica
Dean a dangerous Category 4 hurricane
Hurricane Dean underwent a good deal of strengthening on Friday and Friday night. Dean began the day as a category 2, 100-mile-per-hour hurricane; it ended the day at a category 4, 150-mile-per-hour major hurricane. Further strengthening is forecast over the next few days as Dean moves through the warm waters of the Caribbean Sea.
As of 11 am (Eastern time), Dean was located near 15.7 North, 68.6 West, which is about 565 miles east-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and about 210 miles south-southeast of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Maximum sustained winds are near 150 miles per hour. Dean is moving to the west-northwest near 17 miles per hour.
The outer periphery of Dean is forecast to impact the southern coast of the island of Hispaniola (the island on which Haiti and the Dominican Republic are located) and continues to brush Puerto Rico today, but Dean will more forcibly impact Jamaica and the Cayman Islands Sunday and Monday. By Monday night and Tuesday, the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico will feel impacts from Hurricane Dean.
A hurricane warning is in effect for the south coast of the Dominican Republic from Barahona west to the Haiti/Dominican Republic border. In Haiti, the warning runs from the border to Port-Au Prince.
A hurricane warning is now in effect for Jamaica.
A hurricane watch has been issued for the Cayman Islands.
A tropical storm warning is in effect for the south coast of the Dominican Republic from Cabo Engano westward to Barahona, and for the coast of Haiti from Port-Au Prince north to the Haiti/Dominican Republic border.
A tropical storm watch is in effect for eastern Cuba, from the province of Camaguey eastward to the province of Guantanamo.
Remember that watches mean that conditions are possible within 36 hours; warnings mean that conditions are expected within 24 hours.
In the Western Pacific, Typhoon Sepat has emerged off of the west coast of Taiwan and is headed toward the east coast of China. Maximum sustained winds were near 85 miles per hour at 8 am (Eastern time).
The Eastern Pacific is quiet, with the exception of some disorganized showers and thunderstorms in the vicinity of and south of Cabo San Lucas.
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