Jose to reach Antilles by Sunday

Less than a week after hurricane Irma devastated the islands of the Lesser Antilles, hurricane Jose, which is expected to increase in strength by this morning, is projected to pass over the same route by Sunday, this according to meteorologist, Shakeer Baig.

Newsday spoke to Baig yesterday who said that up until yesterday morning, Jose was located off the eastern coast of the Lesser Antilles and was expected to increase in strength overnight.

"At the moment, Jose is about 1'300 km Eeast of the Lesser Antilles. At this time there are no watches or warnings in effect, regarding Jose. The forecast is that by tomorrow morning, the system is to become a category three or above, or a major hurricane. It is forecast to move and affect the islands of the Northern Leeward islands, Antigua, Barbuda and the same islands which were affected by Irma."

Baig said that Jose was expected to affect the islands by early Sunday morning and then before moving out into the Atlantic again as a hurricane from Monday into Tuesday.

Asked if there would be any inclement weather patterns by Jose's passing, Baig said that while some hurricanes tend to carry rainclouds from the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), a region of low pressure near the Caribbean which consists of circulating air currents, Jose did not appear to bring any such weather systems with it, but promised that the Met office would continue monitoring all developments.

"What they tend to do is bring about some bit of cloudiness with them or some trough of low pressure which can see the ictz moving over tdad but as of now there is no link between Jose or the itcz or any trough but we are monitoring it closely and will issue an information bulletin or warning as is necessary."