ORLANDO, Fla. – What started out Saturday as Invest 94L quickly became Tropical Storm Oscar before noon, then Hurricane Oscar by 2 p.m., according to the National Hurricane Center.
The center of the small Category 1 hurricane as of 2 p.m. Saturday was located about 165 miles east-southeast of the southeastern Bahamas, altogether moving west at 12 mph with maximum sustained wind speeds of 80 mph.
The latest discussion from the NHC acknowledged Oscar’s rapid development and forecasted it would bring hurricane conditions to portions of the southeastern Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands and eastern Cuba during the next day or so, with a Hurricane Warning now in place for those locations.
Oscar is expected to produce dangerous storm surge on the Turks and Caicos Islands beginning Saturday evening, where water levels could be between 2 and 4 feet. Locally heavy rainfall is forecast across the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas later Saturday and Saturday night; these rains are expected to spread to eastern Cuba on Sunday, according to the NHC.
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At the same time, Tropical Storm Nadine — which formed overnight off the coast of Belize — was said to be bringing heavy rain and tropical storm conditions to parts of Belize and the Yucatan Peninsula as it neared landfall before noon. At last check, Tropical Storm Nadine was moving inland across Belize, heading west at 8 mph with maximum sustained wind speeds of 50 mph, according to the NHC.
Hurricane season runs through November. The next name on the list is Patty.
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