It's raining in the Caribbean

Dolores1

DR1
May 3, 2000
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Anyone who has made it to the Caribbean has been unfortunate to come across some unusually wet weather.

http://140.90.6.254/iwin/images/HUIR.JPG

The National Hurricane Center of Miami reports that there is a broad area of low pressure in the Central Caribbean Sea that has brought showers and thunderstorms.

Yesterday in Santo Domingo, the sun was out in the morning, but since then it has been raining for two days straight and skies are one blank cover of low clouds and light rains.

The NHC people say that the same is true for Jamaica, eastern Cuba and Puerto Rico and forecasts that the tropical wave will continue to bring heavy rains for the next day or two, and alerts to flooding.

The good news is that the upper-level winds are not favorable for tropical cyclone formation at this time. The NHC, nevertheless, points out that a combination of the Caribbean low and high pressure over the southwestern Atlantic will produce winds of 25-30 mph over the Greater Antilles and adjacent waters.

From my own observations, when it rains as much as it has so far in April and May, this increases the likelihood of hurricanes coming this way. So, I strongly urge everyone to double check their previsions for the big exciting storms and have plans ready. The hurricane season officially begins 1 June, but August and September have traditionally been the months of big storms for the DR. If you will be traveling this way, we suggest you subscribe to DR1 Daily News to be alerted if this be the case.

Finally, as we have posted extensively before, if you have plans to visit the Caribbean in the summer, please go ahead with them. The likelihood of you being caught in a hurricane is very very very small, and if you would coincide with one, consider yourself most fortunate. This is nature's show at its most dramatical and you wont have to deal with the cleanup, so you just get to enjoy the show. Furthermore, Dominican hotels are well prepared for storm, and since the country is so big, chances are if one side of the island is affected, the other will be spared, so you may just need to change hotels, even if caught in the midst of one.

For more information on hurricanes, see http://www.dr1.com/weather/hurricanes.shtml
 
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