As of 9am eastern, NOAA has released a new update.  Hurricane Dean is now 350 miles east of Barbados, traveling about 23 MPH towards the West-Northwest.  Maximum sustained winds are now 90 miles per hour - a huge jump since Wednesday evening.  Dean will likely turn into a Category 4 hurricane on Friday.

There's a Hurricane "Warning" for St. Lucia and Dominica.  That means the hurricane conditions are expected soon.  There's a hurricane "watch" for Guadeloupe & Martinique.  This means that hurricane conditions are possible withing 36 hours.  It will probably be elevated to a "warning" level later today.

Tropical Storm warnings exist for Barbados, St. Vincent, the Grenadines, Antigua, St. Martin, Montserrat, St. Kitts, Nevis, Barbuda and St. Barts.

This means that the hurricane will likely pass right over the Guadeloupe-Dominican-Martinique-St.Lucia area of the Lesser Antilles.  

The updated path seems to have been adjusted a little since Wednesday evening.  The storm looks to be passing between St. Lucia and Martinique before making the long journey over the Caribbean towards Jamaica. The path looks to be traveling just south of Jamaica.

As it travels over the 85 degree F water of the northern Caribbean it's going to gain intensity.  We can only hope that it travels south of Jamaica and doesn't make a direct hit.

After Jamaica, the Yucatan Penisula is next.  The storm is following the exact path of Tropical Storm Erin which is currently in southern Texas.

More updates later today including links to webcams in the Caribbean.

NOAA hurricane site:  http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/