‘Black Friday’ the hottest day so far – CIMH

Last Friday the 13th may turn out to be hottest day of 2019 in Barbados, the Caribbean Community’s chief weather researcher has confirmed.

Principal of the Caribbean Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology Dr David Farrell said the institute recorded 33.6 degrees Celsius at its Husbands, St James headquarters.

The record temperature capped a heatwave that the CIMH had forecast at the start of the hurricane season in June.

“It was actually the hottest day of the year thus far and it was coming onto the tail end of the heatwave that was forecast for Barbados last week.

“A lot of people complained about the hot nights last week and the hotter days last week was all a part of the heatwave across the region.

“You would see some days there were light winds and not the usually windy conditions that you would expect.

“At CIMH I think the temperature was 33.6 degrees Celsius. I am not certain what it was at Grantley Adams but at CIMH it was quite warm in fact we asked our ground staff not to work in the afternoon,” Dr Farrell said.

Dr Farrell, who is hydrological Advisor to the British Caribbean Territories for the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), said it is early stages yet to determine the prevalence of another heatwave in Barbados as he would be in a better position at the end of the week after all the data are collected.

“We got a break in the conditions and I think everyone welcomes the break in the conditions. But, I think we will get very warm conditions coming on during the week as well,” he said.

Farrell advised Barbadians to stay cool during the heatwaves.

He said: “One of the things you need to do is stay cool and drink a lot of water that is one of the first thing I would recommend.

“I know in some countries if you do not have effective cooling some people go to the malls it may be a possibility to go to the malls and the food courts to cool down.

“By and large if you have fans you may also want to utilize them and light clothing. There are a lot of things you can do to stay cool.”