08/11/2021

The Hurricane Watch Net (HWN[1]) has upped its alert level slightly as the National Hurricane Center (NHC) has issued some weather advisories and continues tracking Tropical Storm Fred, identified until late Tuesday as Potential Tropical Cyclone Six. The NHC said the storm's center is just south of the eastern Dominican Republic, heading west-northwest at 16 MPH. With maximum sustained winds at 45 MPH, the biggest hazard from Fred is heavy rain. HWN Manager Bobby Graves, KB5HAV, said it's too soon to tell if Fred will become a significant storm.

"But, remember, Elsa took a similar path as Fred is forecast. Fred's path is just north of Elsa's, and Elsa became a hurricane twice. But, regardless if it becomes a hurricane or not, tropical storms can do a lot of damage. Never drop your guard with Mother Nature."

As of 1500 UTC, Fred was about 25 miles south-southeast of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and about 245 miles south-southeast of Grand Turk Island. The storm is moving west-northwest at 16 MPH. The NHC has posted a tropical storm warning for portions of the Dominican Republic, while a tropical storm watch is in effect for Haiti as well as the Turks and Caicos Islands and southeastern Bahamas. The storm will spend the rest of the week strafing Cuba, where the government has posted a tropical storm watch for several provinces.

There is no indication thus far that Fred will gain hurricane strength.

Angel Santana, WP3GW, reported "just bands of rain with wind" in Puerto Rico on August 10, before things calmed. Power and water outages were reported, and Santana said a flash flood watch was in effect as Fred headed toward Hispaniola.

"Members of the Puerto Rico Section and ARES¨ Emergency Coordinators did a successful simplex exercise Wednesday at 0015 UTC on 146.520 MHz. "Many considered this a 'good drill,' as everybody was well informed," Santana said.


[1] http://www.hwn.org/

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