hurricane

Erika continues to struggle over the northern Leeward Islands, while moving slowly west-northwest. As of 5 a.m. AST, the poorly defined center of Erika was located 85 miles west of Guadeloupe.

Shearing winds aloft continue to displace most of shower and thunderstorm activity to the northeast and south of the center. Maximum winds in some of this activity remain near 40 mph.

Erika should continue to encounter an unfavorable environment, and will likely weaken to a tropical depression later today and then a remnant low at some point this weekend.

The primary impacts from Erika will be heavy downpours and localized flooding, although some brief gusty winds remain possible. This unsettled weather is already impacting the northern Leeward Islands and will continue into this afternoon.

Unsettled weather will spread across the U.S. and British Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico later today, and this will continue through Friday. It would then spread across Dominic Republic and Hispaniola this weekend.

Elsewhere, well out in the eastern Atlantic, a new low pressure is now moving off of Africa. There is some chance additional development could occur with this low pressure, as it moves west-northwest.

Given its general movement, it would be no threat to any land for at least the next several days.

JIMENA

Jimena made landfall near the southern Baja near San Buenaventura, Mexico on Wednesday.

A wind gust to 91 mph has been reported near the Ciudad de Constitucion early Wednesday afternoon. There have been reports of damage to poorly constructed buildings, major beach erosion over the southern Baja, and flash flooding.

Resorts along the southern tip of Baja California did not experience any major damage.

Jimena has now weakened over land and has been downgraded to a tropical storm over the central Baja; maximum sustained winds have decreased to 60 miles.

Jimena will likely become a depression late today, and then drift slowly west as a remnant low Friday. Heavy rains and flooding will be the primary impacts over the central Baja and adjacent portions of the western coast of Mexico, with some gusts to tropical storm strength still possible.