webcam screen shot
Another perfect 'St John Day'
Our webcam overlooking St John's Rendezvous Bay shows another perfectly beautiful day. However, behind the camera our property manager and her staff are scurrying around the property bringing indoors all the hammocks (and we have plenty), outdoor furniture (again, ditto the previous comment!), sunshades and everything else that could end up on our neighbor's property if this upcoming storm (Hurricane Irma) does as she is forecasted to do and 'visits' St John sometime Tuesday or Wednesday. Luckily, we have hurricane shutters on all openings (the bad news for our property manager is that we have a lot of shutters to close. So, it will be a busy day for them. You, though, can relax and enjoy the webcam. We will keep posting pictures during the storm, as long as we have WiFi and electricity. For any of you weather Gods out there, please put this storm way north of us! Here are some good websites we have found and use to keep tabs on the approaching storms.
St John Battens Down as Tropical Storm Gonzalo Approaches
This is the last bit of sun and blue sky we will see until Tropical Storm Gonzalo passes by St John...watch the storm live on our St John webcam:
UPDATE as of 10 AM -- cisterns are now filling!
2 PM Thursday and Tropical Storm Isaac has passed St John but we are still feeling it
Our St John webcam is testament that Tropical Storm Isaac is still with us!
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| 2 PM Thursday TS Isaac delivers lots of rain and strong winds |
While the eye has passed by (by over 150 miles to the south) and it is now making a bee-line toward the Dominican Republic and right over Haiti, because this system is HUGE (as demonstrated by the picture below from the Weather Channel) St John is still getting lots of water from the system:
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| TS Isaac as of 2 PM Thursday |
This track is from the Weather Channel:
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| Track forecast as of 2 PM Thursday |
The path of TS Isaac is to be right over Haiti, Cuba, and then on to Florida...do you think Isaac is a Democrat or Republican?
Tropical Storm Isaac - as predicted - passes by to our south leaving St John unscathed
Most of yesterday was spent preparing for a guest that did not arrive - thankfully. At 7 AM this morning, Tropical Storm (TS) Isaac will officially pass about 100 miles to our south with clouds, winds at only 45 knots but lots of bands of rain spreading out hundreds of miles out from its center so we will still get lots of rain from this storm. Overnight, the storm jogged slightly south which helped further ensure the safety of the Virgin Islands (and Puerto Rico). So far, heavy, heavy rains have not materialized on St John. The VI Territorial Emergency Management Agency (VITEMA) cancelled its Hurricane Watch but has continued, for now, its Tropical Storm Warning and Flash Flood Watch.
While today will be no beach day on St John we are all very happy that we have fared so well and happy that we are looking at a pretty nice day...considering what could have been! Our webcam overlooking the south shore of St John shows the clouds still hovering over us:
The Caribbean Hurricane Network posts some fascinating graphics which show how huge this storm is at this point (TS Isaac is the red, orange, yellow, blue mass in the center of the picture below):
We now turn our concern to the Dominican Republic and Haiti which both appear to be in the direct path for the storm which is forecasted to intensify to become Hurricane Isaac by the time it arrives there tomorrow:
Tropical Storm Ernesto brings clouds but no harm to St John
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| St John gets clouds from far away Tropical Storm Ernesto |
We have no complaints that (Tropical Storm) Ernesto stubbed St John leaving it way to the north, by over 300 miles, and only sending clouds our way. We should still have a nice beach and boating day today. No so lucky will be Jamaica and then on to parts of Mexico where Ernesto is now heading...
Bookmark our St John webcam to keep up to date on weather in and around St John USVI
A family comes to roost at our St John Villa
This pair of American Kestrels seem quite at home on our deck.
We believe we have provided a new home for this pair of Kestrels (a type of hawk) and are quite happy to do so (at no cost I might add). They are neither aggressive and or timid (letting me take pictures quite up close and personal). Right now they are visiting us at Beau Geste, the Guest House of our St John villa, Great Expectations. They arrived right after sunrise this morning (which we watched from the comfort of our bed). In case you want to watch the sunrise yourself you might take a peek at our live webcam (looking out on the South Shore of St John - Rendezvous Bay, Ditleff Point, Bordeaux Mountain, and into Reef Bay.
SNOW....Say it ain't so!
Yikes! Well, no worries 'mon that is if you be on St John...but, if you are in the northeastern US watch out and while you are stuck inside during the storm looking for things to do why not plan your next trip to St John where it is summer 12 months a year! As an incentive, here is today's forecast on St John: 
Here is a screen shot from our St John webcam taken just now (Sat AM):
What is it like where you are today????