Omar: 20 Inches of Rain, Rare Southwest Approach
UPDATE:Based on the comments below that I forgot Hurricane Lenny, I have updated the text below to say that he was the only hurricane before Omar. DUH - he was on the map all along, my bad.
UPDATE: I checked the NOAA Historical Hurricane GIS System to query Hurricanes that had passed within 100 nautical miles from Saint Thomas, Virgin Islands. It shows only two storms that approached from the southwest in recorded history: Klaus 1984 and Lenny in 1999 (Unnamed #10 1932 was going in the opposite direction). Klaus was only a Tropical Storm at landfall, so Hurricane Lenny remains the only Hurricane prior to Omar to approach from the Southwest. So this is indeed very rare for the area. (If you expand the search out to 150 nautical miles, you also get Alice 1954 and Unnamed 1908).I am worried that, due to the strange direction of approach, residents in some areas won't prepare correctly.
LIVE RADAR OF "OMAR" (PREMIUM | PRO) | BUOY/SHIP OBS | GOOGLE TRACKER (PREMIUM | PRO)
Model Spread Maps [FAQ] | ARCHIVE
UPDATE: We pointed out in a news story today (PREMIUM | PRO today that one of the 10 largest oil refineries worldwide is in the path of this storm.
ORIGINAL REPORT: According to both AccuWeather and the NHC, parts of Puerto Rico could see up to 20 inches of rain from Hurricane Omar (see also our map), who is taking a rare approach from the southwest. The NHC says "TOTAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 5 TO 10 INCHES...WITH MAXIMUM AMOUNTS UP TO 20 INCHES...WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS PUERTO RICO AND THE NORTHERN LEEWARD ISLANDS. THESE RAINS COULD PRODUCE LIFE-THREATENING FLASH FLOODS AND MUD SLIDES."
The center of Hurricane Omar just passed over Buoy #42059 early this morning, with 78 mph wind gusts , a pressure of 29.15", (archived graph) and waves of nearly 18 feet (archived graph)!
It's time to start watching the San Juan, Puerto Rico radar, which should have a fairly decent view of the storm. The eye is coming on the extended radar (available to Premium & Pro users) this morning from the southwest.
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