Strong tropical wave to affect Windward islands by late Friday, say forecasters

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados , CMC – A strong tropical wave just east of the Windward Islands was expected to bring “brief periods” of heavy rainfall and gusty winds later on Friday and into the night, weather forecasters said.



At 2 a.m. ECT (0600 GMT), the wave was estimated to be 800 killometres (500 miles) east of the Eastern Caribbean islands, moving to the west-northwest at 24 to 32 kilometres per hour (15 to 20 miles per hour), and showed stronger signs of developing into a tropical cyclone over the next two days, according to a forecast from the United States National Hurricane Centre (NHC) in Miami.



“Brief periods of locally heavy rainfall and gusty winds associated with this wave could begin spreading across portions of the Lesser Antilles this afternoon and into tonight,” said a public advisory issued Friday morning from the NHC.



The Barbados meteorological service forecast generally cloudy to overcast skies with moderate to heavy showers, isolated thunderstorms and gusty winds to affect Barbados and the Windwards on Friday.



Although saying the likelihood of the system developing into a storm was “low” – around 20 per cent – the Miami forecasters said that upper-level winds were helping the system to develop gradually over the next 48 hours.