By 11 am Thursday, Hurricane Jose had been downgraded to Tropical Storm status as it continued to move away from a course that would threaten the Dominican Republic. Local meteorologists advise all to continue to monitor the storm, though, as a change of course is always possible. As of 11 am the storm was located near latitude 18.6 north, longitude 65.1 west, or about 20 miles (35 kms) north of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The storm is moving west northwest at 15 km/hr. Tropical storm warnings remain in effect for the British and U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Forecasters say that if its track is maintained, it will pass north of and near northeastern Puerto Rico during the next 24 hours. The hurricane did affect the islands of Antigua, St. Barts, Anguilla, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Maarten prior to veering north. For tracking information on the storm, see: http://www.nlmoc.navy.mil/newpage/tropics/al141999.gif http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at199914.html http://www.intellicast.com/Tropical/World/UnitedStates/HurTrack2/
