Tropical Storm Ophelia moves westward

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Forecasters continued to monitor a “disorganised” Tropical Storm Ophelia as it churned across the Atlantic on Thursday, but so far the storm is forecast to veer north of the northern Lesser Antilles.

The centre of the cyclone was estimated to be at near latitude 13.6 degrees north, longitude 47.6 degrees west or about 1570 kilometres east-southeast of the Leeward Islands, according to the United States National Hurricane Centre (NHC).

“Ophelia remains quite disorganised in its appearance on satellite images,” the Miami-based forecasters said as strong upper-level winds tore at the system and weakened it but the storm was still packing winds of 100 km/h (65 mph).

The storm, which intensified slightly overnight, was expected to weaken as it moved towards the west at 22 km/h (14 mph), the NHC said. It added that tropical storm-force winds were found mostly to the north of the storm’s centre and extending outward to about 370 km (230 miles).

Ophelia is expected to continue on its westward track on Thursday before turning to the west-northwest on Friday, forecasters said. Forecast models put Ophelia on course to pass just north of the northern Leeward and Virgin Islands through Saturday and into Sunday.

So far, forecasters have not issued watches or warnings for Ophelia, the 15th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.