Paula was moving through western Cuba as a strong tropical storm Thursday.
Further weakening was expected as the system headed east. Paula had also picked up some speed, increasing its forward movement to 9 miles per hour.
By 1pm Thursday, Paula's maximum sustained winds had dropped to 60 miles
per hour.
Paula was expected to continue to the east on Thursday while weakening further as it passed over Cuba.
A significant change in most of the forecast models was noted on Thursday afternoon. Previously, most storm models foresaw the system heading back into the Caribbean to the south of Cuba sometime over the weekend - likely as a weak tropical depression.
Later in the day, predictions changed to indicate the system was more likely to move north of Cuba and into the Bahamas sometime Friday. Only one storm model had it heading back into the Caribbean.
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