Be vigilant

Fri, 01/13/2017 - 12:00am

 

Words of advice from Deputy Director of the Barbados Meteorological Services, Sonia Nurse called on Barbadians to monitor all weather systems not just during the hurricane season, but throughout the year.
She was at the time sharing information with The Barbados Advocate, compiled by herself and meteorologist Rosalind Blenman on the past year which ended with above average rainfall, and the outlook going forward.
 
Nurse further anticipates that the country will continue to experience variability in its seasons from year to year. One of the major factors affecting the type of season is the El Niño/La Niña phenomena. “The El Niño tends to inhibit storm development, thereby contributing to reduced rainfall levels, while the La Niña usually has the opposite effect.”
 
While Barbados faced drought conditions for the first half of last year, she noted that this significantly picked up during the second half. As such, as the hurricane season/wet season evolved, conditions turned out to be above-normal so that the rainfall total at the end of 2016 was 1423.9mm (56.06 inches). This was well above the 30-year average of 1270mm (50.02 inches). Comparatively, two previous drought years, 1997 the rainfall total was 1037.1mm (40.83 inches) and 2009 the rainfall total was 1013.9mm ( 39.92 inches).
 

Pointing to the island’s drought outlook, she noted that according to the (CARICOF) Caribbean Climate Outlook Forum as published by the Caribbean Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH), Barbados and the eastern Caribbean should anticipate a wetter than normal ‘dry’ season. “More rain days are anticipated,” she said, noting that the dry season usually peaks between March and April. A rain day is categorised as 1mm or more of rainfall.

 

Projections for 2016 were for near normal conditions with the expectation of 13 named storms, six hurricanes, and two major hurricanes. The 2016 Hurricane Season produced 15 named storms, seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes. (A major hurricane is Category 3 or above). This was marginally above the predictions.

 

Nurse revealed that last February, temperatures dropped to a chilly 21.8°C, the lowest minimum recorded while the highest temperature was recorded in August with a hot 31.9°C.

 

In addition to being vigilant and listening to meteorologists, the Deputy Director is encouraging persons living in flood-prone areas to try to mitigate the possibility of flooding by maintaining drains and other run-off facilities around the home. She also urged persons not to dump their garbage indiscriminately, which could also have implications for drainage in the event of heavy rainfall. (JH)

 

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