By Kristina Pydynowski, Senior Meteorologist
August 23,2015; 11:54AM,EDT
With Danny weakening and still approaching the northern Caribbean Islands, it may be "just what the doctor ordered" for the drought-stricken region.
As of 11 a.m. EDT Sunday, Danny remained a tropical storm and was located about 310 miles east of Guadeloupe.
Stronger wind shear and drier air continues to force Danny to weaken from the Category 3/major hurricane status it achieved on Friday.
Breaking Weather News
Further weakening will cause Danny to be a minimal tropical storm or weakening to a tropical depression as it reaches the northern Leeward Islands on Monday.
Interaction with the mountainous terrain of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola may then drop Danny to a tropical rainstorm by midweek. The weakening trend would be slowed if Danny can manage to bypass one or both of these islands.
RELATED:
AccuWeather Hurricane Center
Powerful Typhoon Goni Bears Down on Japan
Latest Statistics on Danny
"Despite weakening, impacts will still be felt in the form of gusty winds and locally heavy rainfall early on Monday morning and lasting through the day on Monday [in the northern Leeward Islands]," stated AccuWeather Meteorologist Evan Duffey.
Surf will also become rough as Danny approaches.
Bands of locally heavy rain and some gusty winds associated with Danny will reach the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico on Monday night into Tuesday and then Hispaniola later on Tuesday into Wednesday.
A general 2 to 4 inches (50 to 100 mm) will fall along Danny's path with the heaviest and potentially locally higher amounts occurring north and east of Danny's center. Isolated flash flooding and mudslides may result.
Wind gusts will average 40 to 60 mph (65 to 95 kph) with the strongest gusts set to whip the northern Leeward Islands on Monday.
"[These] gusty winds could produce sporadic power outages with some damage possible to poorly built structures and weaker trees," Duffey continued. As Danny weakens, the danger of damaging winds will lessen and the positives of the storm will further outweigh the negatives.
"A weakened Danny may be just what the doctor ordered for drought-stricken areas from the Leewards to Puerto Rico and Hispaniola with rounds of drenching rain," stated AccuWeather Tropical Expert Meteorologist Dan Kottlowski.
The United States Drought Monitor reported last Thursday that nearly 25 percent of Puerto Rico, with the area concentrated on the eastern half of the island, was suffering from an extreme drought.
Officials on Puerto Rico were forced to enact water rationing programs with the island in one of its worst droughts in history.
Through Aug. 22, rainfall this year has been held to 45 percent of normal at St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands and 20 percent of normal at Princess Juliana International Airport on the island of Saint Maarten.
Satellite imagery of Danny (Image/NOAA) The status of Danny later this week and any future impacts to the United States will be determined by its track across the northern Caribbean.
Danny could get shredded apart by the mountains of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola too much to bring anything more than enhanced showers to the Bahamas later in the week. If Danny survives the journey past Hispaniola, wind shear could slacken enough for Danny to gain some strengthen and increase the impacts to the Bahamas.
The AccuWeather Hurricane Center will continue to closely monitor the future track of Danny, as well as other tropical features.
A tropical low located west of the Cape Verde Islands and another that will soon emerge from Africa could gradually develop this week. The tropical low may take a track through the Atlantic similar to Danny.
The non-tropical low near Bermuda is struggling to take on partial tropical characteristics.
Meanwhile, Kilo continues to show signs of eventual strengthening and a turn toward Hawaii.
No comments:
Post a Comment