BMS: Small Craft Warning announces in Marine, swell heights

Barbados Meteorological Services (BMS) issued a Small Craft Warning in marine conditions at above-normal swell heights. It shared that the warning is issued when continuous winds of 25 to 33 knots and/ or sea swells greater than 3 metres or reduced visibility by less than 5 km.

According to the BMS weather report, the winds in the sea swell will continuously affect the marine area within the next 36 hours.

General Swell Information: The seas will remain moderate to rough in open water, with swells ranging from 2.5 to 3.5 meters, which is equal to 8 to 11 ft.

It is to be noted that a disturbance in swell heights of above 3.0 m and in winds has been forecasted from January 24 by meteorologists.

The people of Barbados may experience a mix of sunshine and clouds with a few scattered light showers.

Hazard Information

The Atlantic high-pressure system will remain the dominant feature as the small-craft advisory has been upgraded to a Small-Craft Warning. This is a result of a strong Atlantic high-pressure system combined with a low-pressure system in the North Atlantic, generating winds of 20 to 25 knots across the eastern Caribbean.

Key Messages

• Operation of smaller vessels can be difficult at times due to large swells
• Large open water swells can be hazardous to some vessels

Winds Forecast

As per BMS, fresh east-north easterly to easterly breeze from 35 to 45 km/hour, which is equal to 22 to 28 mph, with higher gusts, could be experienced across Barbados.

Notably, there is no significant dust haze forecasted across the region.

Additionally, in January, Barbados experiences slightly cooler nights than other times of the year, often dropping to 23 degrees Celsius/ 73 degrees Celsius.

January is within the dry season; one may expect less rainfall as the humidity is low at this time, and the heat is not stifling.

This month is outside of the hurricane season, so there is very little chance of extreme weather.