Met office keeping an eye on Tropical Storm Gonzalo

The Barbados Meteorological Services continues to monitor the progress of Tropical Storm Gonzalo, located near 9.9N 45.0W at 5 p.m.

This is about 1615 km or 1005 miles to the east of Barbados.

Gonzalo is moving towards the west at 14 mph or 22 km/h. A general westward motion at a faster forward speed is expected during the next few days.

Maximum sustained winds remain near 50mph or 85km/h. Gonzalo is a small tropical cyclone, as tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 35 miles (55 km) from the center.

Gonzalo has not changed much in its satellite presentation this afternoon, which is an indication that this morning’s intensification process has leveled off for now. The intensity forecast for Gonzalo currently remains somewhat difficult due to the small nature of the cyclone and an unfavourable environment which lies ahead of the system after Friday morning onwards. Despite this, Gonzalo could still reach hurricane (category one) intensity sometime tomorrow.

As the system continues to track westward across the Central Atlantic a tropical storm watch maybe issued for Barbados early Thursday morning. Current forecast tracks suggest that the center should pass about 90 miles or 145 km to the south of Barbados on Saturday morning. (BMS)