While Hurricanes Hanna and Douglas are moving onto the U.S. coastline this weekend, there’s some good news in the tropics: Tropical Storm Gonzalo appears to be falling apart.
According to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, “Gonzalo is looking very ragged, with a cloud field that more resembles a tropical squall than a tropical storm. If Gonzalo still has a well-defined center, it is located to the east of the primary area of deep convection and is obscured by cirrus clouds.”
While the storm is expected to degenerate by tomorrow morning, if it hasn’t yet already, it is still producing heavy rains and gusty winds across portions of the southern Windward Islands.
In the latest update from the National Hurricane Center, Gonzalo was located at 10.5N 60.5W which places it roughly 55 miles east of Trinidad. Maximum sustained winds are at 40 mph; the storm is moving west at a brisk 18 mph. The minimum central pressure is at 1009 mb or 29.80 inches.
A Tropical Storm Warning remains in effect for Tobago and Grenada and its dependencies ; this means that tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area within the next 12 hours.
Tropical storm wind conditions are expected within portions of the Tropical Storm Warning area today.
Gonzalo is expected to produce total rain accumulations of 2-4″ over Trinidad and Tobago and far northeastern Venezuela. Gonzalo is also expected to produce 1-3″ over the southern Windward Islands, the Leeward Antilles, and the remainder of far northern Venezuela. This includes Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao. Isolated maximum amounts of 6″ are possible in the mountainous terrain of Trinidad and Tobago and far northeastern Venezuela, which may lead to flash flooding.
