Watch Now


Tropical Storm Elsa to lash Caribbean islands

Wind, flood damage likely beginning Friday

(Photo: NOAA)

Tropical Storm Elsa quickly developed late Wednesday night as it moved slowly across the western Atlantic. It’s making a beeline for the Caribbean, possibly followed by southern Florida.

As of 5 a.m. EDT Thursday, Elsa was a low-end tropical storm, centered about 865 miles southeast of the Windward Islands and producing maximum sustained winds of 40 mph. Winds have to be 39 mph to qualify as a tropical storm.

(Map: FreightWaves SONAR Critical Events, Tropical Storm Elsa, Thursday, July 2, 2021, 5 a.m. ET. To learn more about FreightWaves SONAR, click here.)

National Hurricane Center forecasters expect winds to increase to about 60 mph by early Friday as Elsa approaches Barbados, St. Lucia, Martinique and Dominica, as well as St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The NHC has issued tropical storm warnings for these areas, with tropical storm conditions likely in the warning areas beginning Friday. Tropical storm conditions are possible Friday in Guadeloupe, where a tropical storm watch is in place.

Elsa is expected to produce rainfall totals of 3 to 6 inches Friday in the warning areas, with isolated totals of 8 inches. This may lead to localized flash flooding and mudslides.


The latest NHC outlook has Elsa remaining a tropical storm this weekend after it passes over these islands, reaching Cuba by late Sunday or Monday, followed by southern Florida late Monday or Tuesday. Elsa could strengthen into a Category 1 hurricane at some point along its journey. Anyone with shipping interests in the Caribbean, as well as shipping and trucking interests in southern Florida, should look for updates over the next several days on the FreightWaves website and social media accounts.

Impact on freight

The FreightWaves SONAR Outbound Tender Reject Index (OTRI) gauges the amount of loads offered by shippers that carriers are turning down. Carriers reject freight usually due to lack of capacity or because they found better options for positioning trucks by accepting other loads.

(Chart: FreightWaves SONAR Outbound Tender Reject Index for the Miami (OTRI.MIA) and Lakeland (OTRI.LAL) markets in southern Florida. To learn more about FreightWaves SONAR, click here.)

So, OTRI is a good indicator of capacity in any given market. The SONAR chart above indicates OTRI rates hovering around 20% for the Miami and Lakeland markets, both in southern Florida in the potential path of Tropical Storm Elsa. This is a fairly high rejection rate, indicating tight capacity and the good chance that carriers looking for loads to pick up in these areas will be able to find lower rates on the spot market compared to the contracted rates they rejected.

Click here for more FreightWaves articles by Nick Austin.


You might also like:

Most dangerous highway stretches for US truckers

‘Painful mess’: I-40 bridge closure costing trucking industry $1M daily

Most dangerous railroad crossings for US truckers

Nick Austin

Nick is a meteorologist with 20 years of forecasting and broadcasting experience. He was nominated for a Midsouth Emmy for his coverage during a 2008 western Tennessee tornado outbreak. He received his Bachelor of Science in Meteorology from Florida State University, as well as a Bachelor of Science in Management from the Georgia Tech. Nick is a member of the American Meteorological Society and National Weather Association. As a member of the weather team at WBBJ-TV in Jackson, Tennessee, Nick was nominated for a Mid-South Emmy for live coverage of a major tornado outbreak in February 2008. As part of the weather team at WRCB-TV in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Nick shared the Chattanooga Times-Free Press Best of the Best award for “Best Weather Team” eight consecutive years.