Continuous rainfall, high tide in the next four days can result in flooding- Weather Watch Centre

GINA, Guyana, Tuesday, January 03, 2017

The Ministry of Agriculture’s National Weather Watch Centre, Hydrometeorological Service has issued a bulletin warning that weather conditions are likely to worsen across Guyana.

Rainfall is expected to be between 40 millimetres (mm) and 80mm on Wednesday and Friday and in excess of 100 mm on Thursday. The period of normal high tide is expected from Wednesday through to Friday.

All regions are likely to experience cloudy to overcast skies. The highest rainfall is expected to occur over Regions 2 to 5. Regions 1 to 6 can expect these conditions coupled with mostly light to moderate continuous rain and showers with downpours which may become heavy at times. Rainfall is expected to be less intense over all other locations.

Coastal areas may experience prolonged water accumulation/flooding in poor drainage, low lying and riverine areas. The Hydrometeorological Service has been forecasting for the last four days these weather conditions coupled with the high tides.

The Hydrometeorological Service pointed out that this weather forecast which will see continuous rainfall in the next four days is due to the development of an upper–level trough and a sub–tropical jet.

Jet streams are caused by a combination of a planet’s rotation on its axis and atmospheric heating which results in fast flowing, narrow air currents found in the atmosphere. A Subtropical jet stream is the zone of strong winds situated in the upper equatorward side.