Met Office Closely Monitoring Weather Over Eastern Caribbean Sea

The National Meteorological Service is keeping a watchful eye on an area of low pressure that is forming over the eastern Caribbean Sea, several hundred miles south of Puerto Rico.  According to Chief Met Officer Ronald Gordon, there are several models being followed, including one which indicates that the system will gradually head west towards Central America before making landfall on Nicaragua on Saturday.  That model also shows that what is left of the system will make its way across the Gulf of Honduras where it can dump several inches of rainfall on Belize.  It’s a likelihood among several other possible outcomes for the weather that is being tracked.  This afternoon, News Five spoke with the Chief Meteorological Officer by phone.

On the phone: Ronald Gordon

On the phone: Ronald Gordon, Chief Meteorological Officer

“We’re closely monitoring a trough of low pressure which is currently over the eastern Caribbean Sea, three hundred miles south of Puerto Rico.  This system currently has a low chance of twenty percent of developing into a tropical depression within forty-eight hours and a higher chance of about sixty percent of becoming a tropical depression within the next seven days.  The forecast is for the system to move slowly towards the west towards Central America and one particular model has it developing into a tropical cyclone later this week over the central and into southwestern Caribbean Sea, becoming a bit stronger and making landfall on Nicaragua around Saturday, this Saturday coming.  Thereafter, this particular model has the remnants of the system moving northwestward emerging over Belize or just to the east of Belize over the Gulf of Honduras and affecting the country late Saturday night into Sunday with the main impact being heavy rainfall activity.  Now the reason I say one particular model is because that is just one possibility of what may occur.  It is away too early to say if this particular model solution will materialize.  We do know that something is heading in our direction and if it moves up a bit north of where that model is going it could be stronger if it stays over water and move across the northwestern Caribbean Sea.  So that possibility is in the realm of possibility that something else could also happen.”