Citizens are being urged to speed up last-minute preparations as the US-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) has listed Jamaica under a hurricane warning ahead of the category one Elsa barrelling in the Caribbean Sea on Friday (July 2).

Jamaica in its entirety now joins southern Hispaniola—southern coast of the Dominican Republic from Punta Palenque to the border with Haiti, as well as the southern portion of Haiti from Port Au Prince to the southern border with the Dominican Republic—as Elsa’s trajectory changed slightly in the last several hours.

As at 5:00 pm Atlantic Standard Time (AST), the centre of Hurricane Elsa was located near latitude 14.2 North, longitude 63.7 West—or roughly 815 kilometres southeast of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Elsa is now moving westerly toward 48 kilometres/hour; packing maximum sustained winds near 140 kilometres/hour, with higher gusts. The system, while strengthening slightly since Friday morning, remains at a category one intensity.

On the forecast track, NHC sleuths are expecting Hurricane Elsa’s westward motion to continue through Saturday.

A west-northwestward motion with a decrease in forward speed is expected Saturday night and Sunday, followed by a turn toward the northwest Sunday night or Monday.

“[Hurricane] Elsa will move across the eastern Caribbean Sea tonight and move near the southern coast of Hispaniola late Saturday or Saturday night. By Sunday, Elsa is forecast to move near Jamaica and portions of eastern Cuba, and move near portions of central and western Cuba Sunday night and Monday,” the NHC advised.

“Little change in strength is forecast through Saturday. Slow weakening is expected to begin Saturday night or Sunday as Elsa passes near or over the Greater Antilles,” the Miami-based agency added.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 35 kilometres from the centre and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 220 kilometres.

After powering through the Eastern Caribbean, Elsa continues to gather steam and has triggered alerts in select countries and territories across the region.

See updated breakdown of the alert levels across the Caribbean:

Tropical storm warnings are in effect for St. Vincent and the Grenadines; St Lucia; Martinique; the coast of Haiti north of Port Au Prince; as well as south coast of the Dominican Republic east of Punta Palenque to Cabo Engano

A hurricane watch is in effect for the Cuban provinces of Camaguey, Granma, Guantanamo, Holguin, Las Tunas, and Santiago de Cuba.

A tropical storm watch is in effect for Grenada and its dependencies; Saba and Sint Eustatius; the north coast of the Dominican Republic from Cabo Engano to Bahia de Manzanillo; Cayman Brac and Little Cayman.

Hurricane Elsa is the fifth named storm and the first hurricane of the 2021 Atlantic Hurricane Season.

More coverage:

• Hurricane Elsa cuts power, batters homes in Barbados
• Jamaica upgrades Elsa alert to tropical storm warning; hurricane watch also activated
• Plot twist? Saharan dust ‘breaking up’ weak tropical wave entering Jamaican waters
• Barbados, St Lucia and St Vincent activate hurricane warnings as Elsa reaches category 1 strength
• TS Elsa triggers tropical storm watch for Jamaica; marine interests urged to return to shore
• Met Service initiates ‘severe weather alert’ for Jamaica ahead of heightened storm activity
• TS Elsa marginally strengthens, could reach hurricane-force winds tonight
• A bleak, wet weekend in store for Jamaica
• Tropical Storm Elsa forms in the mid-Atlantic, warnings issued for parts of Eastern Caribbean