Kalain Ho­sein

Me­te­o­rol­o­gist/Re­porter

kalain.ho­sein@guardian.co.tt

Trinidad is now un­der a Trop­i­cal Storm Warn­ing (Or­ange Lev­el) while To­ba­go re­mains un­der a Hur­ri­cane Warn­ing (Red Lev­el) un­til noon Mon­day, Ju­ly 1st, 2024, ac­cord­ing to the Trinidad and To­ba­go Me­te­o­ro­log­i­cal Ser­vice (TTMS).

The Met Of­fice says the up­grade from a Trop­i­cal Storm Watch to a Trop­i­cal Storm Warn­ing means, “there is a high­er po­ten­tial for trop­i­cal storm con­di­tions, in­clud­ing sus­tained winds of 63-118 km/h, with­in the warn­ing area, with­in the next 16 hours.”

As of 8 PM tonight, Hur­ri­cane Beryl was lo­cat­ed near 11.2°N 57.3°W, ap­prox­i­mate­ly 360 km E of To­ba­go, mov­ing west-north­west­ward near 30 km/h.

For Trinidad, the TTMS ex­plains, “There is still a medi­um chance (35-55%) of sus­tained trop­i­cal storm force winds af­fect­ing Trinidad, favour­ing north­ern ar­eas from ear­ly morn­ing on Mon­day 1st Ju­ly. There is cur­rent­ly a high chance (70%) of haz­ardous seas with large, bat­ter­ing waves.

Mariners should ex­pect wave heights to in­crease sig­nif­i­cant­ly, pos­ing a dan­ger to small craft, coastal and off­shore ac­tiv­i­ties. Strong cur­rents and chop­py seas will make nav­i­ga­tion haz­ardous. Wind gusts, ex­ceed­ing 55 km/h, may be ex­pe­ri­enced ahead of Beryl from tonight. Heav­ier rain­fall and thun­der­storm ac­tiv­i­ty are an­tic­i­pat­ed near mid­night.”

Fore­cast­ers are ad­vis­ing the pub­lic in Trinidad to, “Pre­pare for the like­li­hood of trop­i­cal storm con­di­tions, have sys­tems in place to pro­tect lives, liveli­hood, and prop­er­ty, se­cure loose out­door ob­jects and live­stock, en­sure all ma­rine ves­sels are prop­er­ly an­chored and se­cured and mon­i­tor of­fi­cial news sources and weath­er up­dates.”

Mean­while, To­ba­go, which is prepar­ing for more se­vere im­pacts from Hur­ri­cane Beryl, is ex­pect­ing a grad­ual de­te­ri­o­ra­tion of con­di­tions with pe­ri­ods of show­ers and gusty winds in ex­cess of 70km/h near mid­night.

The Hur­ri­cane Warn­ing means, “there is a high­er po­ten­tial for hur­ri­cane con­di­tions, in­clud­ing sus­tained winds in ex­cess of 118 km/h, with­in the warn­ing area, in this case with­in the next 12 – 18 hours.”

For To­ba­go, the TTMS is fore­cast­ing, “From 11 pm tonight, there is a high chance (80%) of haz­ardous seas with large, bat­ter­ing waves. Mariners should ex­pect wave heights to in­crease sig­nif­i­cant­ly, pos­ing a dan­ger to small craft, coastal and off­shore ac­tiv­i­ties. Strong cur­rents and chop­py seas will make nav­i­ga­tion haz­ardous.”

The Met Of­fice is warn­ing the pub­lic in To­ba­go to, “Take im­me­di­ate ac­tions to pro­tect their lives, liveli­hoods, and prop­er­ty. Shel­ter in place or evac­u­ate to a safe lo­ca­tion if your home is un­safe or vul­ner­a­ble to flood­ing or wind dam­age. Se­cure food, wa­ter and med­i­cine for at least 7 days in wa­ter­proof con­tain­ers. Out­door drains should be clear and loose ob­jects se­cured by now. Sand­bags should be near all en­trances to your home. Mon­i­tor of­fi­cial news sources and weath­er up­dates.”