Your Cruise Your Way Cruise Blog

Fast-moving Hurricane Dean, the first hurricane in the Atlantic this season, passed through the Lesser Antilles earlier this morning via the St. Lucia Channel between Martinique and St. Lucia and has entered the eastern Caribbean Sea.
Wind gusts have been clocked as high as 104 mph on Martinique. Dean has top sustained winds of 105 mph; a category 2 on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Additional strengthening is likely today and Dean may reach “major” hurricane status by this afternoon or evening.

Dean’s forecast track has become clearer, at least for the short term, and will likely bring dangerous hurricane conditions to Jamaica and the Cayman Islands on Sunday and Monday respectively.
Those vacationing and residents of the Yucatan Peninsula and Cozumel should keep a concerned eye towards Dean for early in the upcoming week.
It is too early to tell what, if any, impacts Dean will have on the United States but all along the western Gulf Coast will want to keep monitoring Dean through the weekend into next week.
Heavy rain and thunderstorms, from the remnants of Tropical Storm Erin, will increase during the afternoon over much of Texas.
Yesterday, some localized areas in the surrounding metros of both San Antonio and Houston reported up to 9.6 inches of rain.
Today the Houston area could see another inch or so, with areas such as San Antonio and Austin picking up an additional 2 to 3 inches. This will likely bring more flash flooding and increase the risk of river flooding today.
In the western Pacific, there is much concern over Typhoon Sepat. The powerful typhoon is closing in on Taiwan. It will make landfall within the next few hours unleashing destructive winds of about 130 mph, torrential rains, and battering the southern and east coast of the island with tremendous waves.
Sepat will then push into the Fujian Province of eastern China with a concern for more flooding rain.