Wet weather casts a cloud ahead of long weekend

Cayman is set for a rainy week ahead, marked by thunderstorms and showery activity, threatening to dampen the upcoming Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

The National Weather Service has issued a severe weather notification on Monday afternoon, advising that the Yucatan Channel extending to the northwest Caribbean has been marked by the US National Hurricane Center as an area of interest for potential development of a tropical disturbance over the next five days.

“Regardless of an organized disturbance being formed, severe weather conditions are likely over the next 5 to 7 days across the Cayman Islands,” the bulletin said.

The NWS said it will continue to monitor developments and issue warnings as needed.

This weekend, the Cayman Islands is set to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee with a number of events, many planned for outdoors.

However, the inclement weather may pose a significant challenge; the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Steering Committee told the Compass a “very close watch” is being kept at this time on the weather forecast.

A comprehensive update on plans for the weekend is expected to be released by tomorrow morning.

The NHC, in its Monday afternoon advisory, said a large and complex area of low pressure is expected to develop near the Yucatan Peninsula and the northwestern Caribbean Sea in
a few days, partially related to the remnants of Hurricane Agatha from the eastern Pacific.

“This system is forecast to move slowly eastward or northeastward and gradual development is possible by the latter part of this week,” it said.

It has given the system a medium (or 40 %) probability that a tropical cyclone could gradually develop over the southwestern Gulf of Mexico or northwestern Caribbean over the next 5 days.

The NWS has urged residents to monitor the progress of this system as forecast conditions can change over the next few days.

Days expected to be most significantly impacted: