TROPICAL WEATHER OUTLOOK
Written by EUGINE WHINT, MBIA on July 6, 2018
Saturday 7th July 2018, 08:00 pm. Outlook
BERYL A LITTLE LESS ORGANIZED THIS MORNING
At 800 AM, the center of Hurricane Beryl was located near latitude 11.7 North, longitude 50.3 West, approximately 800 miles east-southeast of the Windward Islands. Beryl is moving toward the west-northwest near 14 mph. A west- northwestward motion with some increase in forward speed is expected during the next few days. On the forecast track, the center of Beryl will approach the Lesser Antilles (near Dominica and Martinique) over the weekend and cross the island chain late Sunday or Monday.
Maximum sustained winds are estimated to be near 75 mph with higher gusts, but recent satellite images suggest that Beryl is becoming less organized. The estimated minimum central pressure is 995 mb. If this trend continues, then Beryl may be downgraded to a tropical storm later this morning. Due to Beryl’s small size, short-term changes in intensity, up or down, could continue to occur over the next day or two, and Beryl could still be near hurricane strength as it nears the Lesser Antilles. Weakening is expected once Beryl reaches the eastern Caribbean Sea on Monday. Beryl is a small hurricane. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 10 miles from the center, and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 35 miles.
Although Beryl is not expected to affect Grenada directly, feeder bands (squally bands of showers characterized by gusty winds and heavy showers) could impact Grenada and its dependencies, producing thundershowers and gusty winds Sunday night into Monday morning.
