Jamaicans Urged to Prepare for Possible Weekend Rain

Director of the Meteorological Service of Jamaica (Met Office), Evan Thompson, is encouraging Jamaicans to prepare for the possibility of more rainfall on the weekend.

He said that the island may be impacted by a tropical wave, which is now developing in the Central Caribbean.

“There is a tropical wave that is moving in. It will increase rainfall in the Central Caribbean for sure. How much Jamaica will be impacted and how much that system will develop into a tropical storm or even a hurricane, is yet to be determined. It is still a little early to say. By the time we get into this weekend, we should be seeing increased rainfall in the Central Caribbean [which] will impact Jamaica in some way,” he said.

Mr. Thompson was addressing a meeting between Minister of Housing, Urban Renewal, Environment and Climate Change, Hon. Pearnel Charles Jr.; and MET office officials at the entity’s Half-Way Tree Road location in St. Andrew on Tuesday (November 10).

He noted that the 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season is, to date, the most active on record.

Subtropical storm Theta, which formed in the Atlantic Ocean on Monday, (November 9), is the 29th storm this season, breaking the previous record of 28 storms of 2005.

Mr. Thompson said that increased severe weather events may become common in the future, with more systems developing outside of the traditional hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30.

“We are moving into a new paradigm, a new shift in our atmosphere. It could be cyclical, it could be that we are in a period of increased activity and then go through a period of lower activity. But it is also a signal that if our climate is really changing and we have evidence to support that it is changing, we should look to see more of these kinds of seasons as we go from year to year,” Mr. Thompson said.