Oscar makes second landfall in Cuba on Sunday after slamming Bahamas as Category 1

MIAMI – Hurricane Oscar maintained Category 1 strength as the small hurricane made a second landfall in Cuba Sunday evening after rapidly intensifying over the weekend and making its first landfall in the Bahamas earlier in the day.Oscar rapidly intensified from a tropical storm into an 85-mph hurricane on Saturday, causing islands in its potential path to issue watches and warnings ahead of the system’s arrival.Oscar weakened to a tropical storm Sunday night after moving inland over Cuba.The storm first made landfall early Sunday morning on Great Inagua Island in the Bahamas as a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 80 mph just before 5 a.m. ET.As Oscar slowly moved off to the west-southwest, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said it made another landfall near Baracoa Cuba on Sunday around 5:50 p.m. local time as a Category 1 hurricane.Oscar is still expected to produce strong winds and torrential rain in the region before moving back across the central Bahamas on Tuesday.Oscar, previously designated Invest 94L, was barely hanging on to its prospects for tropical development Friday. But Oscar found a patch of warm water and atmospheric conditions to its liking, rapidly developing a well-defined center Saturday morning. In addition to the gusty winds, rainfall amounts of 2-4 inches, with isolated totals up to 6 inches, are expected across the region through Tuesday.Hurricane Warnings remain in effect for the north coast of the Cuban Provinces of Holguin and Guantanamo to Punta Maisi. Tropical Storm Warnings are in effect for the southeastern Bahamas as well as portions of eastern Cuba. A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for the central Bahamas.WHAT TO DO WHEN HURRICANE OR TROPICAL STORM WATCHES AND WARNINGS ARE ISSUEDOscar is one of the smallest cyclones on record in the Atlantic Basin, with hurricane-force winds (74-plus mph) previously only extending outward 5 miles from the center. That area grew to 10 miles late Sunday morning.As Oscar moved across eastern Cuba on Sunday night, hurricane-strength winds extended just 10 miles from the storm’s center, while tropical-storm-force winds reached 45 miles. A Hurricane Hunter aircraft also determined the cyclone’s eye was just more than 3 miles wide, making it one of the smallest features since Hurricane Wilma in 2005.Due to Oscar’s small size, fluctuations in intensity will be common, as the cyclone can take advantage of pockets of dry air and shear.Oscar became the second storm to get a name on Saturday, joining Tropical Storm Nadine, which was christened early Saturday morning near Belize. Nadine later dissipated over southern Mexico on Sunday.The NHC says Oscar is expected to continue on a west-southwestward or westward track through Sunday night, followed by a turn to the northwest and north on Monday and Tuesday.On that track, the NHC said Hurricane Oscar would move across Cuba on Sunday night and Monday. Oscar is then expected to accelerate northeastward across the central Bahamas on Tuesday.NADINE DISSIPATES OVER SOUTHERN MEXICO BUT TORRENTIAL RAIN, FLASH FLOOD THREATS CONTINUEWhile the northeastern Caribbean islands monitor Oscar’s progress, the storm remains no threat to the U.S. An expansive ridge of high pressure anchored over the East Coast is acting like a protective barrier, with a front at the ridge’s boundary providing hostile atmospheric conditions for any tropical systems to approach Florida or the Southeast coast.