Dale C. S. Destin |
The very quiet hurricane season was brought to life last night across the southern Caribbean by an unsuspecting tropical wave. The rather weak wave caused storm force gusts across Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Barbados. The strongest winds were reported across Barbados were there was a gust of 62 mph around midnight, 12 mph shy of hurricane force.
The tropical wave has caused a surge in the low level winds across the area. Added to the surge are apparently superimposed downbursts/macrobursts associated with periods of heavy thunderstorms and downpours. These downbursts are what were mainly responsible for the strong destructive winds.
Roof Damage. Photo by Marvin Arneaud via The Trinidad Guardian Newspaper
Reports out of Trinidad and Barbados indicate that a number of homes have been damaged in those islands. According to the Trinidad Guardian, 25 homes lost roofs within the precincts of Diego Martin, Petit Valley, Tunapuna and Sangre Grande, Trinidad. Many homes also lost electricity. Early reports out of Barbados indicate that homes there also experienced roof damage. The extent of the damage is unclear especially for Barbados and the rest of the southern Caribbean.
This morning, an image from the ASCAT satellite, which has the ability to measure surface winds among other things, showed that further strong winds are likely as the wave has winds of around 35 mph near its axis currently moving through the southern islands.
Currently, showers and thunderstorms are being experienced in many places of the southern Caribbean. In some places, it is quite heavy. A few places are having storm force gusts i.e. gusts in excess of 34 mph.
Radar Image
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