National Met Service Warns of Rain and Possible Flooding This Weekend

More rain is on the way, that’s according to the National Meteorological Service’s latest report which paints a wet weekend for most of the country. The Met Office says while it has been mostly raining mainly over coastal areas, shower activity is progressing further inland. The situation may worsen already saturated areas and create flooding situations in low-lying communities. Today, Senior Climatologist Shanea Young spoke on what can be expected tomorrow and going into the weekend. 

Shanea Young, Senior Climatologist, NMS: “Overall, over are we have very moist and somewhat unstable conditions prevailing for the last few days. We got somewhat of a break for the most, the earlier parts of yesterday but for many areas especially along coastal and offshore areas they have been receiving rainfall since this morning. It has decreased slightly and has moved inland but there are some showers that are approaching the country. For today the rainfall has been mostly along the coast and offshore areas with a little bit over an inch near Belize City and also in the south over Punta Gorda and Barranco. Most areas of the country did receive some amount of rainfall since midnight but not as much, less than 10 millimeters. So basically just like a brief shower since midnight but most of the activity has been near the Belize City area and offshore since midnight. Since yesterday the southern and coastal parts of the country has been the area that has been receiving most of the rains. So between yesterday and today in the south, they got the most with about two inches of rainfall over Toledo, especially near Barranco. So the western parts of the country got rains yesterday also but not as much as the coast and some southern locations.”

Young added that the current rainfall aligns with what is typical for this time of year. She notes that the weather system in the Caribbean Sea currently being monitored by the National Hurricane Center in the U.S. is not projected to affect Belize.

Shanea Young, Senior Climatologist, NMS: “Typically, this time of year, we have what we call the Central American Gyre. Basically, it’s a very broad area of low pressure that covers the central and southern parts of Central America. So that normally forms every year around this time and it also interacts with the monsoon trough that normally hangs out around Panama area. And sometimes that troughs move up closer to our area and forms a big broad area of low pressure which has been supporting, like I said, the moist and unstable conditions. In addition to the regular tropical waves that we have that crosses the country during this period of time. Tropical waves and even sometimes depressions would give us more continuous rains like we have been seeing over the last few days. Throughout the hurricane season, we should always be in monitor mode because these systems are very common during this period. But in regards to the current area of low pressure that is over the Southwestern Caribbean Sea, currently  it’s not a cone, but the area that is hashed out for the possible development of that system does not include Belize. It doesn’t include the Northern Belize at this time. And it is expected, not in the next two days, but in the seven day outlook, that it has a moderate chance of becoming a tropical depression. So between now and Saturday, nothing is expected to form because that percentage is 10%, which is very low for the next 48 hours.”

The Met Office also observes that while late-season storms remain possible, weather conditions closer to the end of the season tend to steer systems away from Belize