Three days of rain and thunderstorms for Turks and Caicos in tropical wave

#Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands – Tuesday November 13, 2018 – The showers and thunderstorms will not be prolonged, but there will be scattered showers and thunderstorms according to the forecast team at the Bahamas Department of Meteorology which today reached out to Magnetic Media with information to ready islands in the path of a late season tropical wave.

Director of the Bahamas Department of Meteorology, Trevor Basden along with Chief Meteorological Officer, Arnold King explained via telephone that the National Hurricane Center model still indicates a very low chance that the wave has the potential to become the next named system for the Basin.  However, if that happens we could see tropical storm or hurricane May with just 17 days left in the 2018 Atlantic Hurricane Season, marked officially as closed on November 30.

From the Leeward Islands to Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, the Turks and Caicos, The Bahamas and Bermuda – all islands which need to watch the currently deteriorating tropical wave will experience significant rain according to Basden and King.

“The good news is that the tropical wave is falling apart.  For the Turks and Caicos though, there will be light rain initially on Wednesday, with winds measuring 15 to 20 knots. The showers will become heavy on Thursday with thunderstorms and winds will be at their strongest from 20 to 25 knots.  The showers will end on Friday, and Saturday is showing isolated showers.”

Three to four days of downpour is not a good prognosis for the Turks and Caicos Islands, which usually experiences localized flooding in mere minutes during a deluge.

One only has to think back four years to Tropical Storm Cristobal, which caused a two day shutdown of businesses and airports when it rained non-stop for two and a half days.

The Turks and Caicos Department of Disaster Management and Emergencies has advised that residents prepare; revise their family plans in the event the tropical wave and its showers and thunderstorms interrupt life as usual.

The Central and South East Bahamas islands will experience similar conditions.  A cold front will move into the northwest Bahamas, which will lift the tropical wave and its associated weather away from the archipelago.

Hispaniola, home to Haiti and the Dominican Republic, could see mudslides.  Arnold King believes the possibility is strong along the tree-stripped mountains of Haiti due to the coming showers and thunderstorms.  

At latest public advisory from the National Hurricane Center said this of the tropical wave, which is further weakened:  “Disorganized showers and thunderstorms over portions of the Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the adjacent waters are associated with a tropical wave interacting with an upper-level low. Significant development of this system is not expected due to unfavorable upper-level winds and interaction with the islands of the Greater Antilles.  Even though development is unlikely, locally heavy rainfall is expected to continue over portions of the Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico over the next day or so as the system moves generally west-northwestward.  This activity will then spread over the Turks and Caicos Islands and the south eastern Bahamas Wednesday night and Thursday as the system turns northwestward.”