Tracking The Tropics: Cat. 1 Hurricane Elsa Tracking In Our General Direction

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Hurricane Elsa continues to churn in the Caribbean, as it heads in our general direction.

At 11 p.m., it was about 395 miles ESE of Isla Beata, Dominican Republic, with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph and moving west-northwest at 29 mph.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 25 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 140 miles.

A west-northwestward motion with a decrease in forward speed is expected Saturday night and Sunday, followed by a turn toward the northwest Sunday night or Monday.

On the forecast track, Elsa will move near the southern coast of Hispaniola late Saturday or Saturday night.

By Sunday, Elsa is forecast to move near Jamaica and portions of eastern Cuba, and move near portions of central and western Cuba Sunday night and Monday.

Little change in strength is forecast during the next 48 hours. Some decrease in winds is possible on Monday as Elsa interacts with Cuba.

A Hurricane Warning is in effect for:

• Southern coast of Dominican Republic from Punta Palenque to the
  border with Haiti
• Southern portion of Haiti from Port Au Prince to the southern border with the Dominican Republic

A Hurricane Watch is in effect for:

• Jamaica

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for:

• St. Vincent and the Grenadines
• St. Lucia
• Martinique
• Dominica
• South coast of the Dominican Republic east of Punta Palenque to Cabo Engano
• The coast of Haiti north of Port Au Prince
• Jamaica

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for:

• Grenada and its dependencies
• Saba and Sint Eustatius
• North coast of the Dominican Republic from Cabo Engano to Bahia de Manzanillo
• Cayman Brack and Little Cayman

Portions of southern Hispaniola and Jamaica could see 4 to 8 inches of rain, with isolated maximum amounts of 12 inches, Saturday into Sunday.

South Florida is also included in the forecast track so we will need to closely watch it over the weekend.

For now, Elsa is not expected to be a hurricane threat to South Florida. Its closest approach would be next Monday into Tuesday.

We all need to remain alert and aware.