April 23, 2007 — Pack an umbrella if you're planning to attend the Carnival village opening at 6 p.m. Monday on St. Thomas.
"You know rain don't stop the Carnival," said Carnival Committee Director Caswil Callender Monday afternoon. If the weather fails to cooperate, he said, organizers will delay the opening ceremony until the rain stops.
Brian Seeley, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in San Juan, Puerto Rico, blamed the rainy weather on an old frontal boundary hanging around the area, along with other weather issues like an area of low pressure northeast of Puerto Rico.
"There's a long sliver of clouds that's not moving very much," he said, indicating the area could see bursts of heavy showers. St. Thomas and St. John residents should expect similar weather through at least Tuesday night, but St. Croix may see some sunnier skies sooner because the island is closer to the edge of the frontal boundary, Seeley said.
At weather station Zephyr in Coral Bay, St. John, 1.25 inches of rain fell Sunday. From midnight until 1 p.m. Monday, 1.1 inches of rain fell.
Despite the weather and an absence of cruise ships tied up on St. Thomas, as of 1:30 p.m. Monday 150 people had stopped by the Visitor's Center in Cruz Bay, according to Paul Thomas, chief of interpretation at V.I. National Park on St. John.
"But only one person asked about the weather," he said.
Steve Parris, acting director at the V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency, said he has received no reports of flooding anywhere in the territory. However, he said that since the territory remains on a flash-flood alert, he plans to be watchful.
The flash flood alert runs through 8 p.m. Monday, Seeley said.
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