Thursday, August 15, 2024 Midday Update:

The National Hurricane Center reports that Tropical Storm Ernesto had become a Category 1 hurricane.

A hurricane warning has now been issued for Bermuda and dangerous rip currents are likely along U.S. East Coast beaches this weekend, August 17 - 18.

Bobby Graves, KB5HAV, Hurricane Watch Net Manager, reports the net’s activation plans:

Friday August 16 

• 20 meters: 14.325 MHz (USB) at 2:00 PM EDT (1800 UTC) until we lose propagation at night. 
• 40 meters: 7.268 MHz (LSB) at 7:00 PM EDT (2300 UTC). The net will remain active on this frequency overnight for as long as propagation allows. If propagation allows operation all night, the net will suspend operations at 7:30 AM EDT Monday to allow the Waterway Net to conduct its daily net. 

Saturday August 17 

• 20 meters: we will resume operations on 14.325 MHz at 7:00 AM EDT (1100 UTC). 
• 40 meters: we will resume operations on 7.268 MHz at 8:30 AM EDT (1230 UTC). 

 The VoIP Hurricane Net  is not active yet but monitoring the situation. 

The hurricane is currently about 605 miles south-southwest of Bermuda with sustained winds of 85 miles per hour (MPH) and moving north at 13 MPH. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 45 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 175 miles. The forecast track shows the center of Ernesto is expected to pass near or over Bermuda on Saturday, August 17. 

Ernest has now moved out of Puerto Rico. The island suffered flash flooding, storm damage, and widespread power outages on Wednesday as Ernesto moved past. Half of all residents were without power, with flooding and damage especially pronounced in the eastern part of the island. Angel Luis Santana Díaz, WP3GW, Public Information Coordinator for the ARRL Puerto Rico Section, reports that amateur radio operators there are on the KP4FRA repeater system reporting situations on different municipalities. 

Fred Kleber, K9VV / NNA2FK, Section Manager of the ARRL Virgin Islands Section, reports Virgin Islands Territorial Emergency Management Agency (VIETMA) activated its emergency operations centers on Tuesday night. Power is out to all customers on all islands with lines down and trees blocking some roads. Kleber estimated that full power restoration may take 1 - 2 days. All U.S. Virgin Island (USVI) repeaters are operating except for one, and the British Virgin Islands BVI.73 repeater is on the air as well. The Starlink antenna, in use for the first time, survived 75 - 80 MPH wind gusts with service solid at 150+ Mb download speed, even through the clouds. 

More updates will be posted as the Ernesto moves north across Bermuda during the next 24 hours.

This story will be updated as additional information comes in.