HURRICANE SEASON 2008

                                     Tropical system near storm strength in Caribbean






52 minutes ago
Oct. 14, 2008
 
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Tuesday the season's latest tropical depression was expected to become Tropical Storm Omar later today as it neared at least 39 mile-per-hour maximum sustained winds.
 
As of 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT), Tropical Depression 15 was about 360 miles southwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and about 140 miles north of Curacao, moving southeast at nearly 3 mph, packing maximum sustained winds of 35 mph, the NHC said.

Forecast tracks showed the system crossing Puerto Rico and heading northeast out into the Atlantic.

The system was spreading heavy rains over the Netherlands Antilles and a tropical storm watch was in effect for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands and the eastern Dominican Republic.

The next advisory on Tropical Depression 15 will be issued by the NHC at 11 a.m.

Tropical Depression Nana, meanwhile, dissipated early Tuesday well east of the Northern Leeward Islands, but a well-defined area of low pressure in the western Caribbean about 60 miles northeast of the Nicaragua-Honduras border became better organized, the NHC said.

The low pressure system could become a tropical depression later Tuesday if it remains over water.

The NHC said an Air Force Reserve reconnaissance aircraft would investigate the system late Tuesday to better estimate its strength.

Another weak area of low pressure located south-southeast of the remnants of Nana, well west of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands, was expected to encounter unfavorable upper-level winds and not develop further.

None of the systems were expected to pose any threat to oil and gas producing regions in the Gulf of Mexico.



(Reporting by Eileen Moustakis; Editing by John Picinich)