HEAVY, PROLONGED rain and potentially strong winds are predicted this weekend and fishermen have been advised to return immediately to port as the centre of Tropical Depression Lili is forecast to pass by Jamaica at the weekend.
The possibility remains that Lili may strengthen and high winds have also been forecast, with meteorologists expecting the south coast of Haiti and the Dominican Republic to feel the brunt of the depression before it begins to move slowly west today toward Jamaica.
The US National Hurricane Centre noted yesterday that while Lili had weakened, conditions may become more favourable for development over the next day or two.
"Strong gusty winds to near tropical storm force and locally heavy rain will affect the southern coast of Haiti and the Dominican Republic tonight and gradually spread across Jamaica on Friday," the centre reported on its web site yesterday.
Locally, the National Meteo-rological Service warned "fishers on cays and banks, especially those on Morant and Pedro Cays, to evacuate immediately and return to the mainland.
"Other small craft operators in our coastal waters should return to port and those already in port are urged not to venture out," the Met Service stated, predicting that north-easterly winds over eastern offshore waters, associated with Lili may increase to near storm-force by the weekend. The poorly-defined centre of the depression is expected to hit Jamaica tonight, moving around 10 km/h.
"The outlook has the system regenerating over Jamaica in about 36 hours," a spokesperson for the Met Service told The Gleaner yesterday. "Our main concern is for fishers and marine people who might be tempted to go back out."
"If the system regenerates there won't be enough time to get them back to safety," he said.
Lili is expected to depart Jamaican shores on Sunday for the Cayman Islands before heading out to the Gulf of Mexico but she will leave lingering showers at the beginning of the week, according to the Met Service.
Tropical Storm Isidore's temper has calmed slightly and it has been downgraded to a depression as it moves into mainland United States. Strong, sustained winds over 50 km/h and torrential rain affected Mississippi yesterday and the depression is expected to track northeast through Ohio over Pennsylvania and New York state before exiting northeast over the Atlantic on the weekend.
