Hurricane Season 2007

[Chris]

The water vapor satellite image of the day tells the story nicely.



You can see the upper ridge from around Honduras/Nicaragua across to Hispaniola and Cuba and off into the ocean. We are under mostly dry and clear air with accompanying strong Easterly trade winds. There is a dryish tropical wave in the vicinity but this won't influence us much. There is a lot of African dust in the atmosphere right across the island, so, if you're sneezing for no reason, this may be it. The current dry situation should continue for the next day or two as there is onely one tropical wave in the Atlantic currently, making its way across to us.
A few observations ...
La Romana is showing a heat index of 104.7 F (40.4 C).
There are a few tropical showers over Santiago currently. For the first time this season there is African dust across the Santiago area today.
Puerto Plata is showing a few drifting clouds with a heat index of 96.8 F (36.0 C)
Punta Cana is showing a heat index of 99.7 F (37.6 C)

So the normal pattern will continue. Mostly clear skies but the wind brings isolated cloud clusters with tropical showers and isolated thunderstorms to keep the fierce heat down. Siesta Weather!

[Chris]

We should see a tropical wave spread over the DR sometime tomorrow evening and we should see a few more scattered tropical showers from now onwards, as moisture from this wave start affecting the DR. So, there will be scattered moderate showers to thundershowers and as the wave passes over, the trade winds should actually pick up a little. See if you note when the wind changes its direction. This is all good for the DR and will probably give a little relief from the summer heat.

The rest of the Atlantic is normal for now and there is no tropical storm formation for the next 48 hours.

At this time of the year, the tropical storm formation information from Noaa is kicked out for 48 hours, every 4 hours. So, all the questions that we get about weather 10 or 14 days into the future, simply cannot be answered. And the 10 day forecasts from some weather organizations are usually not accurate for our part of the world during this time of the year. Usually we get rain, sun, wind and cloud all in the same day.

[Chris]

Heavy showers and isolated thunderstorms for a day or so while a tropical wave passes over the DR.

The water vapor satellite image shows it nicely.

[Chris]

The 'purple', 'yellow' and 'blue area hanging off the Central American coast in the previous sat pic is now called 'a large area of disturbed weather'. No doubt we will see some spin-off tropical showers and isolated thunderstorms. This system is not expected to show much development while it is in our area.

[Chris]

Mostly clear skies with some puffy clouds and a few showers drifting around as a result of the trade winds. There is nothing serious on the horizon although the tropical waves are now riding in with monotonous regularity.

[Chris]

There could be a few showers and thunderstorms heading our way. Currently dry upper air is indicated but shower activity is increasing to the East of us. This activity should reach us sometime tomorrow.

[Chris]

Things are pretty much normal for this time of the year. The sun shines, the wind blows, clouds roll in, it rains, the sun shines again -- and its hot hot hot.

Tropical waves at this time of the year usually make it over the Atlantic Ocean, drop some water on the Caribbean Islands and fizzle out at some point. There is one in the Atlantic currently that is forming well and we'll be watching this one, as it enters our area.

[Chris]

I can only repeat the previous statement .. Things are pretty much normal for this time of the year. The sun shines, the wind blows, clouds roll in, it rains, the sun shines again -- and its hot hot hot.

There is one system on the horizon that make weather watchers sit up and take notice. We've been watching a tropical wave for the past few days and it has now developed into a well-defined low pressure. It is currently about 1200 miles east of the Southern Windward Islands and is making its way over to us at about 10 to 15 miles per hour. It is not a very wet system but it keeps developing and could well take on the characteristics of a tropical cyclone as it gets closer to us.

Our weather pattern over the Caribbean however is not very conducive to development of cyclonic weather systems currently. We have winds that cause wind sheer and the water is not yet very very hot. We also have some African dust around and it is generally accepted that this dust dampens down development of weather systems. So, the expectation is that this low pressure will blow out before reaching us. This is the first system with any form to it that I've seen this season. We'll see more of these as we're entering into July.

[Chris]

The low pressure that we've been watching is now located about 700 miles East of the Southern Leewards and moving westwards. Shower activity is minimal and environmental conditions are becoming less favorable for development. So, we'll keep watching. There is nothing else notable on the horizon, excepting the heat index.

Measurements at the major airports all have the heat index across the country into the red ...

Santiago

Wind	from the ESE (110 degrees) at 10 MPH (9 KT)
Visibility	greater than 7 mile(s)
Sky conditions	mostly clear
Temperature	89 F (32 C)
Heat index	95.0 F (35.0 C)
Dew Point	71 F (22 C)
Relative Humidity	55%

Punta Cana

Wind	from the E (090 degrees) at 14 MPH (12 KT)
Visibility	greater than 7 mile(s)
Sky conditions	partly cloudy
Weather	Cumulonimbus clouds observed
Temperature	86 F (30 C)
Heat index	96.8 F (36.0 C)
Dew Point	77 F (25 C)
Relative Humidity	74%

Puerto Plata

Wind	from the ESE (120 degrees) at 7 MPH (6 KT)
Visibility	4 mile(s)
Sky conditions	partly cloudy
Weather	Rain in the vicinity Cumulonimbus clouds observed
Temperature	86 F (30 C)
Heat index	99.3 F (37.4 C)
Dew Point	78 F (26 C)
Relative Humidity	79%

Santo Domingo

Wind	from the SSE (160 degrees) at 14 MPH (12 KT)
Visibility	greater than 7 mile(s)
Sky conditions	partly cloudy
Weather	Cumulonimbus clouds observed
Temperature	89 F (32 C)
Heat index	96.8 F (36.0 C)
Dew Point	73 F (23 C)
Relative Humidity	59%

La Romana

Wind	from the ESE (120 degrees) at 17 MPH (15 KT)
Visibility	greater than 7 mile(s)
Sky conditions	mostly cloudy
Temperature	91 F (33 C)
Heat index	106.2 F (41.2 C)
Dew Point	78 F (26 C)
Relative Humidity	66%

[Chris]

We have two tropical waves across the Caribbean area. Expectations for the coming week are for a little more rain than what we've seen lately. It would be a nice change to bring that heat-index down a tad.

All is quiet in our Atlantic basin and the pressures indicate that things will stay quiet for a while longer. We are in a period of normal summer Caribbean weather with additional rain forecast for this week as a result of the two tropical waves.