Grace expected to pass 13 miles south of GC
(CNS) UPDATED 2pm: The Cayman Islands is now bracing for a close encounter with Tropical Storm Grace as the centre of the storm is expected to pass 13 miles to the southwest of Grand Cayman late Tuesday night, early Wednesday morning. According to the National Hurricane Center’s 2pm bulletin, the storm is still travelling west at around 15mph with winds of 50mph and higher gusts.
The storm is currently around 250 miles east-southeast of Grand Cayman with tropical-storm-force winds extending outward up to 70 miles. Government and other offices are preparing to close early Tuesday afternoon, with most planning to stay closed throughout Wednesday, when Cayman can expect very heavy rain.
CUC issued a press release warning customers of potential power outages overnight “due to the projected inclement weather associated with the storm”. The company said that residents “should also be prepared for possible extended interruptions to their electricity service overnight as high winds and inclement weather may prevent our crews from working safely at heights to conduct repairs. In such cases, repairs and restoration would be carried out as soon as the winds abate.”
CUC said it has prepared extra power line technicians, additional crews and control room operators, who will be on standby to respond to customers’ calls. To report power outages, call 945-1282 and to monitor the status of power outages, see their Power Outage Map.
The Department of Environmental Health confirmed that there will be no garbage collection Wednesday and the dump will remain closed until Thursday.
UPDATED 10:30am: Tropical Storm Grace intensified Tuesday morning as it reached the coast of Jamaica on a pathway headed directly towards Grand Cayman. According to the latest National Hurricane Centre advisory, Grace is 295miles ESE of the Cayman Islands and winds have increased to 50 mph with higher gusts. Grace is forecast to strengthen into a hurricane on Wednesday. Currently moving west at 15mph, the storm is expected to reach our area later tonight or early Wednesday. As much as ten inches of rain could fall on Cayman over the next few days.
Government is due to update the public on preparations after the hurricane committee meets at 11am. Meanwhile, government offices are expected to begin closing early today with the Water Authority already announcing its offices will close at noon on both Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac
8am Update: Government officials are urging residents of the Cayman Islands to make their preparations as quickly as possible as Tropical Storm Grace is now expected to pass very close to Grand Cayman sometime later tonight. At 7am this morning Grace was approaching Jamaica, located 340 miles east-southeast of Cayman moving westward at around 16mph, with winds near 45mph.
Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 45 miles from the centre. Grace became better organised overnight and further strengthening is expected. The storm could be near hurricane strength after it passes Cayman late Tuesday and early Wednesday.
A tropical storm warning remains in effect as well as both a flood and marine warning across the Cayman Islands. Heavy rainfall leading to flooding, along with strong winds and very rough seas are expected. The National Hazard Management Council is expected to meet this morning and Hazard Management said a number of measures are already in place and shelters are being prepared, while the National Roads Authority has been clearing drains to manage flooding.
Cayman Airways has adjusted some of its flights, cancelling all domestic flights to the Sister Islands today and recommencing flights tomorrow afternoon. Wednesday’s repatriation flight to Miami has been cancelled and the Kingston flights have been rescheduled.
Details on TS Grace are available from the National Weather Service website and the
NWS Facebook page.
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Category: Science & Nature, Weather
Thoughts and Prayers to our brothers and sisters in the Cayman Islands.
Please feel free to consult http://www.caribbeanweather.org for the latest data, images and forecasts. Stay and keep safe!
The link you provided is simply a copy of the National hurricane center site. Useless.
Hello,
Thank you for your comment, but it is not entirely accurate. You are correct that there is some data from the NHC (which we identified as the source), there are also several other sections which do not use NHC as the source.
For example, there are satellite images from the GOES-16 satellite for the Atlantic and Caribbean (from NOAA of which NHC is part of), as well as sat images for Western Africa (from EUMETSTAT which has nothing to do with the NHC), links to latest Saharan Dust images (from CIMSS), country forecasts for several Caribbean countries (from Open Weather and meteoblue, nothing to do with NHC), as well as images from buoy cameras in the Caribbean and Atlantic (NOAA). There is also a small directory of links to the met offices of several Caribbean countries.
Have a nice day.
Kind regards,
Team CW.
I don’t have a cat, never had, – it’s not that I don’t like them, they just make me asthma- ie. Will it be too windy to leave the one I’ve been baby sitting outside ? 🐈💨🤷🏻♀️
YES EITHER LOCK THEM IN A CRATE OR A ROOM YOU DON’T ENTER BUT DON’T LEAVE THEM TO FEND FOR THEMSELVES OUTDOORS PLEASE
Let the cat decide. If it wants in, let it in. You can’t make the cat come in, or it will tear the crap out of everything.
Cat’s call.
Leave the cat outside. Don’t worry when it goes out of your sight. Cats aren’t stupid.
If you do worry, you will then panic and go looking for it, endangering your own life. After a quick frantic search you will return to your house empty handed and notice you have been locked out by that same cat which will then ignore your pleas for mercy to be let back inside.
FACT !
What Is Wrong with you all trying to get 5 minutes of FAME predicting where the storm go.
Stay informed with the National Hurricane Center updates.
This is nature at it’s best or Worst and no one can predict Nature.
In the Cayman Islands we’re Blessed and some people don’t Care about anything but your opinion. I agree that You’re entitle to your Opinion but it’s quite Annoying to most people when It’s so Negative
I hope when Grace (the storm ) pasts us by and no one is hurt – killed Etc that we’ll Thank GOD for his Mercies of How Blessed we are in the Cayman Islands
Dexter Layman Ebanks
Is this in layman’s terms?
Leave that to Len
It is just occasionally okay to admire the violence of nature.
Dexter, glad you mentioned the NHC and not our National Weather Center which is completely out of touch with the latest developments not to mention it’s loss of radar.
The early National Hurricane Centre forecast was hopelessly wrong. It seems to be trending further west all the time and hopefully we will miss the worst of it by early tomorrow if the trend continues. The early morning update showed us dead centre, but the 10.30am report shows it a little to the west of us.
Will the “essential”liquor outlets be allowed to remain open 24 hours a day for the duration?.
“Trending west”??? You realize this storm is moving from east to west, and not south to north??
It is 100% going to cross our longitude (81.24); what is unknown is what latitude it will be at when it crossed 81.24.
The current forecast anticipates:
▪️Madness at the grocery stores
▪️Pandemonium at the hardware stores
▪️Panic at the liquor stores
Customers are well advised to spend all their hard earned cash on necessities like spirits, beer, wine, toilet paper, ready to eat snack food and plywood.
No, it was not. The NHC is an amalgam of model consensus, which is always changing, as the variables of the storm change.
You want to view the initial track as written in stone. If so, you don’t understand how model consensus works. Some people act as if they could go outside and see a blue line overhead. It is not an exact science. It is a study in probabilities. Every. Single. Time.
will be well south of us…but wil still get strong winds and rain.
That is not what the forecast says. Current path is 13 miles south of Cayman. And the strongest winds are north of the center.
Current path is wrong. Watch.
Feel stupid now eh?
exactly what he said….bet it will be more than 13miles south of us!
Your reading skills are piss poor
The numbnut wrote that it “will be well south of us”
Love to read the bravado before these storms
LOL!
You probably think COVID is just to flu, too.
Nah he’s just a blow hard
Really? Even here? While we’re studying what to do about the storm? 🙁 🙁
Studying?
The storm has gradually increased intensity with each of the past few advisories overnight and this morning. The water temps around Cayman are very warm so this trend could continue. Whether we get a direct hit or it misses just north or south we should expect quite a bit of wind and heavy rain. Be careful Cayman!
What is the deal with office closures before the actual weather hits? Are we supposed to be fighting to get home and get our kids from places in the middle of the rain?
So people have time to prepare their homes and get supplies you asshat.
Not at our office – it’s business as usual!
Not unusual if law or finance office.
supplies for what???
fosters back open midday tomoz!…..smh
Lol but was it really? Everybody is an expert on cns
Everybody should go home and continue their preparations. Be safe, and don’t rely upon any services — public or private — until this has passed. Take care of yourselves until then.
FYI, I find this to be useful for calculating the projected Closests Point of Approach and when that will occur
https://stormcarib.com
The 5:00 AM update calculation is:
Results for Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands (19.28N, 81.35W):
The approximate Closest Point of Approach (CPA) is located near 19.2N, 81.4W or about 3.9 miles (6.3 km) from your location.
The estimated time of when the center of the storm will be at that location is in about 20 hours and 49 minutes from now (Wednesday, August 18 at 7:30AM EDT).
I guess 3.9 miles is considered “well to the south” of us by some.
Please also feel free to use http://www.caribbeanweather.org
Let the drinking and eating begin…. LOL
Start from morning Bobo
Grocery and Liquor stores and Bars and Speakeasies are smiling tonight
Late Tuesday, early Wednesday (Not Wednesday/Thursday)?
CNS: Thanks!