Position of Tropical Storm Matthew, 24 Sep 2010 at 2115 UTC or 5:15 EST

Belize should start feeling the effects of the storm sometime just before midnight.

We may get 10 to 15 cm of rainfall by this time tomorrow.

Tropical Storm Matthew has changed course and is now heading in a direction more to the south of Belize. This means that the winds will be greatly reduced in strength. However, we may receive some significant rainfall which could cause some serious flooding, especially in the south.

Will make an update later today.

Tropical Storm Matthew appears to becoming better organized. The present course is directly for Belize.

It may not produce any damaging wind but we could see some serious flooding, especially in the south were they already have had too much rain and the roads are in bad condition right now even before the storm arrives.

This photo was taken this morning, Sep 22.
Shows that the upper air is becoming more unstable.
There is currently a lot of shower activity scattered about Caribbean. This activity is gradually moving west towards Central America. There is currently a 60% chance that this activity could develop into a tropical depression in the coming days.

Continuation of hot, dry weather. There is very little weather activity in the Caribbean. Next report Sep. 22

The tropical depression mentioned in the September 12 report, developed into a tropical storm called KARL. This Storm is currently crossing the coastline of the Yucatan as show in the map. Here in Belmopan the sky is overcast with light rain and a light wind from the west.

The rainfall measured at my site was only 9 mm. The storm appears to be weakening as it moves inland.






September 14, 2010
This is a picture of the sunset taken before the arrival of tropical storm Karl.

The remnants of tropical depression Gaston passed over Belize overnight. This produced a light thunder shower between 3:30 and 4 AM Sunday morning before sunrise. Measured 15.5 mm rain. Sunday morning was cloudy and cool, a nice change from the heat of the past 8 days.
I am keeping an eye on a large area of low pressure now southeast of Jamaica. This area has a medium potential of developing in a tropical depression in the next couple of days.

No new weather news. Still hot and dry.

These storm clouds are actually far away to the west in Guatemala.

Areas to the west of Belize are having a considerable amount of rain with flooding, especially in southern Mexico. Today, Belize is back in hot, dry weather. There is no sign of rain.

An unusual situation has occurred. The upper air layer has fractured over the western part of Belize in such a way that for the top half the flow is towards the northeast and for the lower half, the flow is in the opposite direction. This has allowed an area of rain showers to expand eastward in to Belize from Guatemala. As a result the northwestern part of Belize is experiencing moderate rainfall at this time about one hour before midnight. Normally there should have been clear sky at the moment.
The rainfall was measured next morning and found to be 0.56 inches or 14 mm.