Last Updated on October 20, 2024 by Ryan
Hurricane Oscar is set to traverse Great Inagua Island on Sunday morning, before making landfall along Cuba’s northeastern coast later in the day or by evening, and will pass over eastern Cuba throughout the night into Monday. It will then swiftly move northeastward across the central Bahamas on Tuesday.
MIAMI – After undergoing rapid intensification over the weekend, the compact yet forceful Hurricane Oscar targeted Cuba, following an early Sunday landfall in the Bahamas as a Category 1 hurricane.
The storm quickly escalated from a tropical storm to an 85-mph hurricane on Saturday, prompting the issuance of watches and warnings in the islands along its projected path.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported that Oscar made landfall on Great Inagua Island as a Category 1 hurricane just before 5 a.m. ET on Sunday, with winds reaching 80 mph. Initially labeled as Invest 94L, the hurricane found favorable conditions, including a warm water patch, enabling it to develop a well-defined center by Saturday morning.
The storm is expected to bring 2-4 inches of rain, with isolated totals up to 6 inches, across the affected areas through Tuesday.
Hurricane warnings have been issued for the southeastern Bahamas and parts of northeastern Cuba, while tropical storm warnings are in effect for parts of eastern Cuba.
Oscar, which became the season’s second named storm on Saturday, shortly after Tropical Storm Nadine was named near Belize, is anticipated to maintain a west-southwest or westward trajectory through Sunday night. It will then shift northwestward and northward on Monday and Tuesday.
Concerning the potential threat to the U.S.,
while the northeastern Caribbean islands are keeping a watchful eye on Oscar, the storm is not expected to pose a threat to the U.S. A robust ridge of high pressure over the East Coast serves as a protective barrier, with a frontal boundary creating unfavorable conditions for any tropical systems approaching Florida or the Southeast coast.
Source: https://www.foxweather.com/weather-news/tracking-oscar-caribbean-atlantic