Drought warning as wet season ends

Weather watchers’ concerns over a lingering drought in Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean have been heightened as the region races to the end of the wet season.

The region’s premier weather research institute, the Barbados-based Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH), said that while there is less concern over short-term drought, there remains much concern over long-term drought as the end of the year approaches. The wet season runs from May/June to November/December, with the dry season for the other half-year.

In its latest Caribbean Drought Bulletin released here, the CIMH said that the drought situation is of even more concern given that the wet season is also coming to an end.

This raises concerns related to water availability moving into the dry season. In particular, underground water sources and large, rivers could continue to be depleted, particularly in parts of the Eastern Caribbean, French Guiana and Belize, CIMH warned.

The research institute said that long-term drought by end of next month is of “immediate concern” in the farm belt of southeastern Belize, while noting that long term drought is “evolving” in Antigua, Barbados, northern and central Belize, Dominica, French Guiana, Grenada, St. Kitts and Trinidad and Tobago.

Long-term drought might possibly continue in Hispaniola and Martinique and might also develop in northern Puerto Rico, St. Martin, St. Vincent and the United States Virgin Islands, the CIMH said.

It added: “Areas ending up in long term drought may experience significantly reduced water levels in large reservoirs, large rivers and groundwater during the upcoming dry season.”

In a review of the situation in the region for August, the CIMH said that there were mixed conditions were seen throughout the islands of the eastern Caribbean.