Who made it to St. Barts?  Who got married off of Puerto Rico? Were Beyoncé and Jayz  beach bound?  Once again Caribbean Travel News summarizes all the Caribbean island star sightings.

St. Barts:

St. Barts is easily the most popular Caribbean island for celebrities, maybe even most popular in the world.  2008 New Years was no exception:

A number of stars toasted the new year aboard yachts in the Gustavia harbor: Paul Allen's boat "Octopus" played host to Billy Joel and his wife Katie, Steven Speilberg, Kate Capshaw, Russell Simmons and girlfriend Porschla Coleman.  Martha Stewart and boy friend Charles Simonyi hosted friends on his yacht. Denzel Washington partied on Ron Perelman's yacht.

Other  celebrities visiting St. Barts: Linda Evangelista, Nicolette Sheridan and Michael Bolton and  Billy Zane with Kelly Brook (photo on right) and Billionaire George Soros.

One non-celebrity of note: Moammar Khadafy's son Saif vacationed explored St. Barth's beaches and restaurants.

Barbados:

The other celebrity hot spot this New Years was Barbados.  Barbados seems to be a growing celebrity destination.  Stars visiting Barbados: , Simon Cowell (as usual), Prince William's girlfriend Kate Middleton, and 'Waking the Dead' star Trevor Eve vacationed with wife Sharon Maughan. 

Other locations:

Liam  Neeson and his wife Nataasha Richardson visit Anguilla's Cap Juluca every year.  'Without a Trace' star Roselyn Sanchez married 'Days of Our Lives' star Eric Winter on Vieques, near Puerto Rico.

So where were Caribbean regulars Beyoncé and Jayz?  Not to be seen in the Caribbean this year.  Rumors had them getting hitched in Paris or opening a nightclub in Las Vegas.

Update via NOAA at 8pm AST; The Windward Islands of Martinique, Dominica, Guadeloupe, and St. Lucia are now feeling the effects of Hurricane Dean.  Here is the updated storm path.

Dean is now a huge, Category 2 hurricane with sustained wind speeds upward of 100 MPH.  As of Midnight tonight, Dean is only about 150 miles east of Martinique and 60 miles north of Barbados.  Dean is currently traveling at 25 miles per hour towards the west and slightly northwest.  

By 4am Eastern, Thursday morning, Dean will be just south of Martinique and north of St. Lucia.  

According to the updated path, hurricane Dean should travel across the empty middle of the Caribbean and make second landfall on the southern end of Jamaica approxmately noon on Sunday before heading for the Yucatan and eventually heading towards southern Texas or northern Mexico on Tuesday or Wednesday.  It will likely be a category 1 hurricane on Saturday. 

NOAA website: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov 

As of 9am eastern, NOAA has released a new update.  Hurricane Dean is now 350 miles east of Barbados, traveling about 23 MPH towards the West-Northwest.  Maximum sustained winds are now 90 miles per hour - a huge jump since Wednesday evening.  Dean will likely turn into a Category 4 hurricane on Friday.

There's a Hurricane "Warning" for St. Lucia and Dominica.  That means the hurricane conditions are expected soon.  There's a hurricane "watch" for Guadeloupe & Martinique.  This means that hurricane conditions are possible withing 36 hours.  It will probably be elevated to a "warning" level later today.

Tropical Storm warnings exist for Barbados, St. Vincent, the Grenadines, Antigua, St. Martin, Montserrat, St. Kitts, Nevis, Barbuda and St. Barts.

This means that the hurricane will likely pass right over the Guadeloupe-Dominican-Martinique-St.Lucia area of the Lesser Antilles.  

The updated path seems to have been adjusted a little since Wednesday evening.  The storm looks to be passing between St. Lucia and Martinique before making the long journey over the Caribbean towards Jamaica. The path looks to be traveling just south of Jamaica.

As it travels over the 85 degree F water of the northern Caribbean it's going to gain intensity.  We can only hope that it travels south of Jamaica and doesn't make a direct hit.

After Jamaica, the Yucatan Penisula is next.  The storm is following the exact path of Tropical Storm Erin which is currently in southern Texas.

More updates later today including links to webcams in the Caribbean.

NOAA hurricane site:  http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

The storm off the western coast of Africa has become the Hurricane Season's fourth Tropical Depression.  Cleverly named "Tropical Depression #4", the storm is bearing towards at 21 miles per hour.

More news available here at Caribbean Travel News as information becomes available.

Monitor the NOAA's Hurricane Center website for best updates:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

The National Hurricane Center at NOAA is tracking a "tropical wave" off the coast of Africa.  This storm could form into a tropical "depression" as early as Monday, August 13, or Tuesday.

This wave is tracking towards the Caribbean and could become the first hurricane of the 2007 hurricane season.

From NOAA: "CONDITIONS APPEAR FAVORABLE FOR GRADUAL DEVELOPMENT OF THIS SYSTEM".

September 10 is traditionally the height of the Atlantic Hurricane season.  Also, water temperatures are approaching prime conditions for development of hurricanes. 

If you are traveling to the Caribbean in the next two weeks, you may want to consider trip insurance.  Call a travel agent.

If you are currently vacationing in the Caribbean, stay tuned to Caribbean Travel News and/or the NOAA Hurricane Center website:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ 

When we first spoke with Adam Moyer, meteorologists were predicting an active 2007 hurricane season.  Obviously, the season has been very calm. Caribbean Travel News wanted to check back in with Adam and get more details.  Adam spoke with us from Bermuda, where he has been working for the Bermuda Weather Service.

CTN: When we last checked in, it looked like it was going to be a La Nina summer with plenty of Atlantic hurricanes.  Yet we've only had 3  tropical storms so far.  Why has it been so quiet?

AM: Indeed, last time we spoke it seemed as though the Eastern Pacific was going to be cooler than usual, which would be indicative of La Nina conditions. Since that time, however, sea-surface and below sea-surface temperatures have warmed in the East Pacific to near normal, and therefore neither El Nino nor La Nina, conditions. It goes to show how poor meteorologists and climatologists are at forecasting the state of ENSO (El Nino-Southern Oscillation) many months out.

It should be pointed out, though, that this season is only slightly below normal for this time of year. As the calender turns to the middle of August, the tropics begin to heat up and the frequency of tropical storms and hurricanes increases dramatically.

To answer why this season has been relatively quiet, especially compared to predictions, the answer is two-fold. First, June and July were very active months for Saharan Air Layers (SALs). Essentially, storms over Africa deposit dust from the Sahara Desert in the middle troposphere (about 15,000 feet up). The Saharan dust dries and heats the middle troposphere. Both of these conditions tend to inhibit the creation of tropical cyclones. Secondly, sea-surface temperatures have been merely average across much of the Atlantic. In 2004 and 2005, sea-surface temperatures were some 2-3C (3-5F) degrees above normal in the regions where we expect storms to form. All else being equal, regions of warmer sea-surface temperatures should have higher frequency of tropical storms.

That said, one shouldn't be too liberal with that statement and try to apply it to global warming. In a global warming sense, all things are not equal to what they currently are, and the latest research is divided as to whether global warming causes an increase in hurricanes.

CTN:  Will this relative calm continue?

AM: Relatively speaking, I would forecast the progression of the season to be near normal. Totals for the season should be expected to fall somewhere in the neighborhood of twelve to fourteen tropical storms, seven to nine hurricanes, and three to five major hurricanes. I expect that the season from here on out will start to become more active than we have seen. Just this week, Tropical Storm Chantal formed and a vigorous tropical wave is producing 55 mph winds in the Caribbean Sea. I think these events portend what the next two or three months will be like.

CTN: Travelers watch weather sites, like Weather.com, TheStormTrack.com, etc for hurricane predictions/reports.  Are there key indicators that we can follow to help monitor potential storms.  Like water temperatures in the Caribbean, etc.

AM: For long term forecasting, keep an eye on sea-surface temperatures and sea-surface temperature differences from normal. As the sea-surface temperatures hit their maximum in September, more hurricanes will form.

For short-term forecasting, read the National Hurricane Center's Tropical Weather Outlook, which they have expanded to a graphical product this year. The Tropical Weather Outlook will provide information as to where NHC thinks regions of disturbed weather could form into tropical storms. Also, my website, thestormtrack.com will be up and running smoothly once I get back to the States from Bermuda in September. Bryan has been busy with research and I have been forecasting for the Bermuda Weather Service all summer, so updates have been few and far between. That will change as the season heats up and the fall semester gets moving.


CTN: At what point can we stop worrying about hurricanes in the Atlantic? November?

AM: The National Hurricane Center defines the end of the Atlantic Hurricane Season to be November 31. This is mainly an arbitrary date, however. Some years, no storms form after the middle of October. Other years, like 2005, tropical storms were forming after Christmas. Obviously, 2005 was the busiest year on record, but I think the public can generally stop paying attention in November. If anything forms after that, it's usually strange enough that the mainstream media will pick up on it rather quickly.

CTN: Thanks, Adam.  Keep track of Adam's forecasts via www.thestormtrack.com.

Adam Moyer's background: Adam is a Ph.D. candidate in meteorology at Penn State University.  Adam is currently in Bermuda, forecasting for the Bermuda Weather Service. Website: TheStormTrack.com.