Cuba Advisory No. 2 on TS Erika

By Circles Robinson

HAVANA TIMES, Sept. 2 – The Cuban Meteorological Institute reported on Wednesday mornng that Tropical Storm Erika was “very disorganized” and located 160 miles east-southeast of the Leeward Islands.

The storm currently packs winds of 45 mph and is moving west at a slow speed of 7 mph with a central pressure of 1005 millibars.

The Cuban weather experts believe the storm will return to a west-northwest course within the next 12-24 hours, and gain some in organization and intensity.

Current projections of the National Hurricane Center say the storm may reach winds of 60 to 65 mph in the coming days.

Computer models differ at this point on the path of the storm.  Some “show the system taking a northwesterly track toward Florida or the Southeast U.S. coast, but some models show it steering a more westerly course toward Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Cuba.”

Erika, which formed on Tuesday in the western Atlantic, has led to a tropical storm warning being declared for the islands of Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Anguilla, St. Martin, Saba and St. Eustatius, reported Reuters.

The Cuban Meteorological Institute said it will issue its third advisory on Tropical Storm Erika at 6:00 p.m. EST on Wednesday.