High Wind Alert issued for Trinidad and Tobago as gusts expected to intensify this weekend

SEIGO­NIE MO­HAMMED

Cli­mate Change Ed­i­tor

Res­i­dents across Trinidad and To­ba­go are be­ing urged to se­cure loose out­door items and ex­er­cise cau­tion as a Yel­low Lev­el High Wind Alert re­mains in ef­fect from 10:00 am on Fri­day, May 15, un­til 2:00 pm on Sun­day, May 17.

The Me­te­o­ro­log­i­cal Ser­vice says cur­rent breezy to windy con­di­tions are ex­pect­ed to strength­en over the next 24 to 36 hours, with a 70 per cent prob­a­bil­i­ty of wind gusts ex­ceed­ing 55 kilo­me­tres per hour, par­tic­u­lar­ly in and around pass­ing show­ers.

The fore­cast in­di­cates the strongest gusts are like­ly to af­fect east­ern dis­tricts, el­e­vat­ed ter­rain, and sur­round­ing coastal wa­ters, where con­di­tions may be­come es­pe­cial­ly haz­ardous.

Of­fi­cials warn that al­though the strongest gusts may be brief, they could be pow­er­ful enough to dis­lodge un­se­cured roof­ing ma­te­ri­als, top­ple loose out­door ob­jects, and snap tree branch­es, cre­at­ing po­ten­tial risks for mo­torists, home­own­ers, and out­door work­ers.

Ma­rine con­di­tions are al­so ex­pect­ed to de­te­ri­o­rate through­out the pe­ri­od, with rougher seas like­ly to im­pact fish­ing ves­sels, in­ter-is­land traf­fic, and oth­er ma­rine op­er­a­tions.

Au­thor­i­ties are ad­vis­ing res­i­dents to se­cure out­door fur­ni­ture, sig­nage, con­struc­tion ma­te­ri­als, and live­stock, while small craft op­er­a­tors are be­ing strong­ly en­cour­aged to re­strict ma­rine ac­tiv­i­ty un­til con­di­tions im­prove.

The pub­lic is be­ing urged to re­main weath­er-aware and mon­i­tor of­fi­cial up­dates as con­di­tions evolve through­out the week­end.