Is Hurricane Oscar Going to Be a Threat to the United States? Forecasters Weigh In

Hurricane Oscar already made landfall in Cuba, but will the storm system threaten the United States? Forecasts still suggest that won't be the case.

Oscar was downgraded to tropical storm status after making landfall in Cuba as a Category 1 hurricane on Sunday, Oct. 20, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Tropical storm conditions are expected to continue across Cuba on Monday, Oct. 21, and in portions of the southeast Bahamas Monday night through Tuesday, Oct. 22.

Some “slight restrengthening” may occur after the center of the storm “moves back over water and near the southeastern and central Bahamas on Tuesday.”

The NHC said the storm system is expected to turn to the “northwest and north” Monday, followed by a “faster northeastward motion" on Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 23.

Current models show the storm is not expected to move toward the U.S., but instead will make a beeline for Bermuda.

In the meantime, heavy rainfall is expected in Cuba and the Bahamas, which could lead to flash flooding both countries. Eastern Cuba could see between seven and 14 inches of rainfall, though some areas could see as much as 20 inches.

As a result, eastern Cuba is expected to see life-threatening floods and mudslides “through midweek.”

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Philippe Papin, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center, told the Associated Press that the heavy rainfall is forecasters’ “main concern.”

Cuba’s power grid failed for the fourth time as Oscar came ashore on Sunday, according to CNN and  USA Today. The first outage occurred just 48 hours earlier on Friday, Oct. 18.

Jon Porter, a chief meteorologist for AccuWeather, said in a statement that Oscar’s impacts to Cuba “are extremely concerning because of the ongoing power grid crisis in Cuba.”

"Adding a hurricane hit on top of the existing power failure can make the hurricane impact far worse, further risking lives and resulting in challenges in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from the hurricane’s impacts,” Porter said, per CNN.