T.S. Emily Slowly Moving Over Hispanola After Brief Stall
MIAMI (CBS4) – Tropical Storm Emily has picked up a slow speed after it was stalled over Hispanola Wednesday evening.
At 11 p.m. the center of Emily was about 50 miles southeast of Isla Beata, Dominican Republic. The storm's maximum winds were 50 mph moving to the west at 5 mph.
Cuba's government has issued a Tropical Storm Warning for the eastern provinces of Guantanamo and Holguin.
A Tropical Storm Warning remains in effect for the Dominican Republic, Haiti, the southeast and central Bahamas, eastern Cuba and the Turks and Caicos islands.
A Tropical Storm Watch has been issued for the northwestern Bahamas.
The Dominican Republic and Haiti could see six to twelve inches of rain, with isolated amounts of twenty inches which could cause flash flooding and mud slides.
After Emily crosses either Hispaniola or far eastern Cuba, Setzer said hurricane hunter plane reports on Thursday will give us a better indication if Emily's structure survived the island and how likely or quickly it may begin to intensify.
Emily is forecast to pass over Haiti Wednesday night and be over the southeastern Bahamas (and the Turks and Caicos islands) on Thursday.
Besides the unknown of land interaction early Thursday, the next unknown involves high pressure building over the storm. This will likely result in an environment favorable for storm strengthening as well as lighter steering winds. The lighter steering winds mean a slower moving storm in the Bahamas that could track closer to Florida.
Bottom line, South Florida remains in the cone. The probability of tropical storm force winds has increased overnight from 16% to 21%. If Emily survives its passage over Haiti and the Dominican Republic DR, we could have a strengthening storm headed in our general direction as we go into the weekend.
Click Here for CBS4's tropics page and more information about Tropical Storm Emily.
