Met Service Reports Heavy Overnight Rainfall in Stann Creek

As emergency responders worked across flood-affected communities today, weather experts were also closely monitoring rainfall totals and river conditions after an intense overnight weather event dumped significant amounts of rain across portions of the country.  The National Meteorological Service has confirmed that some areas received exceptionally high rainfall accumulations within a relatively short period, contributing to flooding concerns in the Stann Creek District and other vulnerable locations.  Chief Meteorological Officer Ronald Gordon was among officials participating in the weather watch operations over the past several days as forecasters tracked the system and its potential impacts on Belize. According to Gordon, rainfall intensified after midnight, with the heaviest amounts recorded in the Stann Creek District.

Ronald Gordon, Chief Meteorologist, National Meteorological Service: “We issued an excessive rainfall watch starting from, I believe, Tuesday evening alerting for the potential for heavy rainfall across the country. So in terms of the features precisely what happened we have a lot of moisture coming up from the Pacific associated with the remnants now of Christina the tropical wave near the surface and then we also have an upper level trough that favored a lot of convective or thunderstorm activity developing. Perfect ingredients for what has become a very wet Thursday morning as most of you have seen. The peak was at Middlesex. That’s based on where we have stations. They recorded in excess of eight inches of rainfall and that’s from 6 p.m. yesterday evening until the present moment. So that’s a lot of rainfall in about less than 24 hours. Another notable location is Kendall which recorded about seven inches of rainfall. And then La Democracia we had about over four inches between four and five inches. So going forward, of course, many persons would have seen that the National Hurricane Center has indicated a small potential for that system that is over us now to develop as it enters the Bay of Campeche. That system, of course, moving to the west of us won’t have an impact if it develops. Development is very, very small. We don’t expect it to develop. There’s a 10% chance, which is very low, very strong upper level winds would tend to discourage or suppress any sort of development. But in either case, it would not be a threat for us.”

The significant rainfall, coupled with saturated ground conditions and runoff from neighboring countries, has placed additional pressure on rivers and drainage systems, prompting continuous monitoring by meteorological and hydrological officials.  Despite some improvements in weather conditions throughout the day, Gordon says forecasters remain vigilant as moisture associated with the system continues to affect the region.