Tropical Storm Oscar tracker: Follow storm's path after making landfall in Cuba

Tropical Storm Oscar dumped heavy rainfall on eastern Cuba on Monday, a day after making landfall as a Category 1 hurricane on the island nation.

Oscar hit Sunday evening amid a power blackout, and while it has since weakened, the storm was still forecast to produce heavy rain and "life-threatening flash flooding," according to the National Hurricane Center.

Oscar made landfall near the city of Baracoa shortly before 6 p.m. ET Sunday, just hours after hitting the Bahamas, the hurricane center said Sunday. As of Monday, Oscar's maximum sustained winds had decreased to about 45 mph with higher gusts.

It was the first October hurricane to make landfall in Cuba since Matthew in 2016.

The storm was expected to turn toward the northwest and north later Monday, followed by a faster northeastward motion on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to the hurricane center. Forecasters said Monday that the center of Oscar was expected to continue moving across eastern Cuba through Monday afternoon.

"Some additional weakening is likely while Oscar moves across the mountainous terrain of eastern Cuba, but Oscar is forecast to be a tropical storm when it moves north of Cuba late today and then moves near the southeastern and central Bahamas on Tuesday," the hurricane center said Monday morning.

Through Wednesday morning, 7 to 14 inches of rain, with isolated amounts of 20 inches, was expected across eastern Cuba, forecasters said. The rain was expected to lead to "areas of significant, life-threatening flash flooding along with mudslides," the center said.

Across the southeastern Bahamas, 3 to 5 inches of rain was expected, and isolated amounts of 8 inches were possible.

In the U.S., powerful waves from Oscar could hit East Coast beaches in the coming days, according to the National Weather Service in Melbourne, Florida.

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10 hurricanes so far in 2024

Oscar was the 10th hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, which does not officially end until Nov. 30. It's only the 10th season on record with that many hurricanes, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach. A typical year has seven hurricanes. Hurricane records go back to 1851.

Overall, thus far in 2024, there have been 15 named storms in the Atlantic basin. This includes four major hurricanes (Category 3 or greater on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale), according to AccuWeather.

Tropical Storm Oscar path tracker

Tropical Storm Oscar spaghetti models

Illustrations include an array of forecast tools and models, and not all are created equal. The hurricane center uses only the top four or five highest-performing models to help make its forecasts.

Gabe Hauari is a national trending news reporter at USA TODAY. You can follow him on X @GabeHauari or email him at [email protected].

(This story was updated with new information.)

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tropical Storm Oscar tracker: See projected path, spaghetti models