Tropical wave set to hit Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao later today
A strong storm developing in the Caribbean Sea is expected to strike Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao on Thursday night. According to the U.S. National Hurricane Center, the storm has a 70 percent chance of developing into a tropical depression, a tropical storm, or a hurricane by Saturday afternoon, and a 90 percent chance of becoming one of the strong cyclone storm formations by Tuesday.
The as-yet unnamed storm, officially called a tropical wave, will bring showers and thunderstorms to parts of the southeastern Caribbean Sea. “Regardless of development, locally heavy rainfall and gusty winds are likely to affect the Windward Islands, northern Venezuela, and the ABC island chain today. These impacts are likely to spread to northeastern Colombia later this evening,” the National Hurricane Center said on Thursday evening (Central European Summer Time).
The Meteorological Department Curaçao predicted highs of 29 degrees Celsius with moderate to heavy rainfall at least through Friday morning that can cause localized flooding. During the heaviest showers, sustained gale force winds of up to 61 km/h were expected, the organization said. Sea conditions will likely deteriorate during the tropical wave. The rocky weather could continue into the afternoon, local time.
“Although upper-level winds are currently inhibiting development, the environment is forecast to gradually become more favorable in a couple of days, and a tropical depression is likely to form at that time. The disturbance is forecast to move west-northwestward across the eastern Caribbean Sea during the next day or two, and be over the central Caribbean Sea this weekend,” the U.S. weather office wrote.
Aside from the tropical wave, the National Hurricane Center is also tracking Hurricane Fiona, a few hundred miles southwest of Bermuda, and Tropical Storm Gaston, several hundred miles west-southwest of the Azores. Some Dutch media outlets mistook the latter for the tropical wave due to hit the ABC islands on Thursday.
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