A weather system in the southwestern Caribbean is expected to develop and strengthen this week, prompting a tropical storm warning for Jamaica and a hurricane warning for the Cayman Islands on Sunday, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
The system could also bring heavy rainfall to Cuba and Florida, as well as the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico, later this week, the center said.
At 10 p.m. EST Sunday, the system was about 325 miles south of Kingston, Jamaica, with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph, the center said. It was moving north at a speed of 10 km/h, with a turn towards the northwest expected.
It was expected to become a tropical storm on Monday, with steady strengthening forecasts. A tropical storm is defined as maximum sustained winds of 60 km/h to 120 km/h. Hurricane force winds are 74 miles and greater.
If the storm strengthens as expected, it will be named Rafael.
The disruption was expected to occur late Monday near Jamaica and Tuesday and Wednesday near the Cayman Islands, the hurricane center said, which urged residents of Cuba and the Florida Keys to monitor the storm’s progress. Heavy rainfall will hit the western Caribbean with totals of 3 to 6 inches, and locally up to 9 inches in Jamaica and southern Cuba. Floods and mudslides are possible in these countries.
Heavy rain will reach Florida and adjacent areas of the southeastern U.S. by midweek, the center said.
