The extremely dangerous Category 5 Hurricane Felix remained on a course south of Grand Cayman on Monday.
Water floods a street after the heavy rains of Hurricane Felix passed over Oranjestad, Aruba Sunday. On its predicted course, Felix was to pass nearly 300 miles south of Grand Cayman. Photo: AP |
On its predicted course, Felix was to pass nearly 300 miles south of Grand Cayman.
Barbara Carby, the director of Hazard Management Cayman Islands, said Monday morning that Grand Cayman had a better outlook than originally expected.
‘Based on current forecasts from our Met Office, it is likely that the weather conditions will be better than earlier advisories indicated,’ she said. ‘We’re considering lifting the tropical storm watch for Grand Cayman this afternoon.’
The government put Grand Cayman under the tropical storm watch on Saturday morning.
Although some of its outer rain bands extended far from the centre of Felix on Sunday, the bands had become tightly wrapped around the storm’s centre on Monday.
‘So these bands will not affect Grand Cayman as forecasted earlier,’ Cayman’s National Hurricane Committee said in a press release.
Grand Cayman will likely still experience a few thunder showers and rough seas.
Wave heights of four to six feet are expected Tuesday especially along the southern coasts of Grand Cayman. A small craft warning is in effect from Monday.
Grand Cayman will also experience breezy conditions, but winds are expected to be less than 20mph.
As of noon Monday, Felix was located 418 miles southeast of Grand Cayman and was heading west at about 21mph. Its track forecasted by the NOAA’s National Hurricane Centre in Miami would have Felix make landfall near the Nicaragua/Honduras border and then again in Belize.
The first landfall is expected when Felix is still a Category 5 hurricane, which could bring catastrophic damage to the area.
Felix went through a rapid intensification over the weekend. A tropical depression on Friday night, Felix was classified a tropical storm by NOAA at 4am Cayman time. It became a hurricane Saturday night and by Sunday night it was a Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds near 165 mph.
The central pressure of Felix dropped from 980 MB to 934 MB in a nine-hour time span on Sunday. The average drop in pressure of 5.11 MB per hour was one of the most rapid deepening rates observed by NOAA.
Another area of low pressure, labelled 98L, was located about midway between Africa and the Lesser Antilles on Monday morning. Although the showers associated with the storm remained disorganised, it still had a well defined circulation and NOAA reported that development could occur over the next couple of days.
However, most computer models show 98L curving north before entering the Caribbean Sea.
The Atlantic hurricane season has entered its most active two-week period, with the peak occurring around 10 September.
In addition to 98L, computer models are forecasting the development of a tropical cyclone coming off the coast of Africa later this week.
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