Forecasters say a weak cold front on the horizon is likely to extend cloudy skies and scattered showers into the weekend across the Cayman area.
“Right now we are experiencing the outflow of medium-level clouds that are being produced by Tropical Storm Julia,” said Cayman Islands National Weather Service forecaster Gilbert Miller.
As of 4pm on Monday, 10 Oct., Julia was located on the Mexican peninsula, producing disorganised thundershowers.
“The effects of Julia in our area should begin to clear up, after that we expect the usual afternoon and early morning weather impacts brought on by Cuba,” Miller said. “We normally see showers over the Sister Islands due to the impact of the weather travelling down from Cuba, but as of lately we have been seeing more and more of those impacts on Grand Cayman.”
Miller said by Friday evening a modest cold front should make its way into the Cayman area.
“We expect winds of about 5 to 10 knots, so not really strong, with the overcast skies, and the occasional scattered thunder showers,” he said. “After all this is not the time of the year when we would usually see strong cold fronts.”
Lull expected for Atlantic hurricane basin
Following the passage of Hurricane Julia, the US-based National Hurricane Center is not predicting any additional storm development for the Atlantic hurricane basin.
Cayman forecaster Miller said this is partly due to a mid-Atlantic ridge of high pressure that has redeveloped.
“This ridge of high pressure is what was responsible for the prevention of storm development at the start of the season, and is also the reason why Tropical Storm Julia stayed southwest of us,” explained Miller.
Miller told the Compass there are several tropical waves appearing; however, the re-established ridge of high pressure is expected to curtail any further development.
It is unclear how long the ridge will last. During August, when the ridge was at its strongest, no storms developed, for the first time in 30 years. But with a month-and-a-half remaining before the end of hurricane season, Miller said things could change.
“Of course, it’s still too early to tell what might happen for the remainder of the season, but these weather systems will have an impact on storm development for the foreseeable future,” said Miller.
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