BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Jul 18 2018 – A Tropical storm watch remains in effect for Barbados as it braces for the passage of Tropical Storm Don.
At 5 a.m. the centre of the system was located about 250 miles east-south-east of the island with forecasters predicting that it will pass about 90 miles to the south of Barbados this evening.
Following is the full text of the latest bulletin issued by the local met office this morning:
A TROPICAL STORM WATCH MEANS THAT SUSTAINED WINDS OF 34 to 63 KNOTS (39 TO 73 MPH/ 63 to 118 KM/H ARE POSSIBLE SOMEWHERE WITHIN THE SPECIFIED AREA, IN THIS CASE WITHIN THE NEXT 12 HOURS IN ASSOCIATION WITH T.S DON.
AT 5:00 A.M …0900Z…THE CENTER OF TROPICAL STORM ‘DON’ WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 11.5 NORTH…LONGITUDE 56.2 WEST OR ABOUT 250 MILES… 405 KM…EAST-SOUTH-EAST OF BARBADOS.
DON IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST NEAR 18 MPH… 30 KM/HR.
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS HAVE INCREASED TO 50MPH… 85 KM/HR…WITH HIGHER GUSTS.
STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 35 MILES, (55KM) FROM THE CENTER OF DON ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 1007MB…29.74 INCHES.
ON ITS PRESENT TRACK, THE CENTER OF T.S ‘DON’ IS EXPECTED TO PASS ABOUT 90 MILES TO THE SOUTH OF BARBADOS LATER THIS EVENING BEFORE MOVING ACROSS THE SOUTHERN LESSER ANTILLES AND INTO THE CARIBBEAN SEA ON WEDNESDAY.
CLOUDY TO OVERCAST SKIES, POCKETS OF MODERATE TO HEAVY SHOWERS, ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS AND OCCASIONAL GUSTY WINDS IN ASSOCIATION WITH THIS SYSTEM WILL LIKELY SPREAD ACROSS BARBADOS LATER TODAY.
RAINFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF AT LEAST TWO (2) TO THREE (3) INCHES (50 TO 75 MM) ARE POSSIBLE.
SOME FLASH-FLOODING IS LIKELY IN FLOOD-PRONE AREAS.
ABOVE-NORMAL EASTERLY SWELLS OF 3.0 TO 3.5M (10 TO 12FT) ARE ALSO FORECASTED.
RESIDENTS IN BARBADOS SHOULD CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF T.S ‘DON’ AND TAKE ALL NECESSARY PRECAUTIONS.
Source: Caribbean News Service