Territory Bracing for Tropical Wave Thursday and Friday

Virgin Islands Territorial Emergency Management Agency State Director Mark A. Walters said today that a tropical wave which should bring an increase in shower activity to the region at the end of the week remains more than 250 miles away as it continues on a west northwest track at 14 miles per hour.
“The tropical wave had shown signs of development, but it is currently becoming weaker and less organized,” Walters said Wednesday afternoon following a telephone conference with FEMA officials and warning meteorologists at the National Weather Service in San Juan.  
Because of the weakening, the reconnaissance flight mission into the system scheduled for today has been cancelled, explained Walters.
“Showers will increase a little in coverage and strength tomorrow but the best chance for rainfall will not come until Thursday evening or Friday morning,” he said. “Gusty winds are expected only in the vicinity of the heavier showers and isolated thundershowers that do form.”
Across the local waters, mariners should expect winds of 17 knots and seas of 5 feet through Thursday. The marine conditions will deteriorate on Thursday and Friday with the approach of this tropical wave.
The second weather system being monitored by hurricane forecasters is a broad low pressure area located about 700 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands.
“It has changed little in organization today,” said Walters. “Some gradual development of the system is possible in the next couple of days as it moves slowly westward.”
Long range computer models project that this system will move well north of the islands in the Eastern Caribbean, according to Walters.