Bryan Norcross: Hurricane Oscar is moving through the southeastern Bahamas on its way to Cuba

Updated at 9:30 a.m. ET on Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024

Amazingly and surprisingly, micro Hurricane Oscar tracked directly over the Bahamian island of Great Inagua on its way to the northeast coast of Cuba. Matthew Town, the largest community on the island, was impacted by strong winds in the hurricane's core, but they blew off the land, which hopefully somewhat tempered them.

Oscar is an extremely small storm. Hurricane-force winds only extend about 6 miles to the north and east of the center, with hurricane-force gusts out to about 25 miles.

These midget hurricanes are a different type of weather phenomenon than we are used to. They can spin up from a cluster of thunderstorms under a patch of especially conducive atmospheric conditions. They exist on the spectrum somewhere between a big thunderstorm complex and a typical hurricane. 

Without the Hurricane Hunters, we might not have known that this storm had hurricane-force winds. It was so small that our typical satellite observing systems couldn't measure its strength.

Hurricane Oscar will arrive near the eastern end of Cuba this afternoon and should weaken significantly as it makes a slow loop to the north near Guantánamo Bay. Oscar is forecast to begin to pull away to the north tomorrow as a weaker storm. It could still be a tropical storm when it re-crosses the Bahamas on its way into the open ocean.

Oscar is no threat to the U.S.

Over Central America

Former Tropical Storm Nadine is fading out over southern Mexico, although heavy rain continues over the higher elevations of Mexico and Guatemala. The mountainous terrain should completely disrupt Nadine's circulation by later today.

Across the Gulf and Florida

Hostile upper-level winds are forecast to continue for as far into the future as we can see – into November. That will keep any tropical activity confined to the Caribbean, if it occurs.