LIQUID SUNSHINE - Feedback

[Roel le Pair]

Feedback on July 26-Aug 02 2009

Hi Paul,
we had a very good week, Monday till Thursday the occasional short (not too heavy) showers, Friday till Sunday completely dry and cloudless sunshine all over, uhm . . . . you get what you deserve, wasn't it so ?
Cheers, Roel

(no liquid) Sunshine everywhere

Mt Irvine.jpg (170.1 KiB) Viewed 6037 times

[Paul Tallet]

Thanks Roel

But I don't expect it to be that sunny this weekend ... see Liquid Sunshine for more details of the heavy rain on the way.

Regards

[Paul Tallet]

Hello everyone

I hope you are all watching the 2009 Hurricane posts ... it's warming up!

Regards

[Andy K]

The last tropical wave greeted us here in Trinidad just in time on Friday, offloaded lots of rain (spoiling my fishing
on weekend) and disappeared in time for us to have nice sunny weather to go to work this morning

Paul, please let it rain between Monday and Friday, and not so much on weekends again...

[Paul Tallet]

Hi Roel

Thank you for sending that disgusting photo of Mount Irvine and making me feel insanely jealous !!

But wow ... It's nice to hear from someone ... hasn't it gone a bit quiet in this forum? ... only 30 people a week seem to be obsessed with the weather in Tobago these days ... I guess the cred crunch and lots of bad things have put people off ... even the Bude Boy has gone quiet and the Waffler seems to have waffled herself into speechlessness, unless of course her recent bathroom upgrade fully met her expectations.

But I still have the drive and enthusiasm ... come on chaps ... let's get it together and start talking again .

Regards

[Paul Tallet]

Come everybody ... please wake up and follow the weather ... more details on the 2009 Hurricane section.

There is a risk of trouble on the way.

Regards

[Andy K]

It is raining cats and dogs today in Chaguaramas, Trinidad.

[Paul Tallet]

Must be very big rain drops then ... don't say you weren't warned ... about the wet stuff I mean ...

Regards

[Andy K]

Well, it could be worse.
And this is supposedly the rainy season, we haven't had so much of that yet... unlike
earlier this year, when it was supposed to be the DRY season

[Paul Tallet]

I guess that rainy seasons are a call for a dry sense of humour

Regards

[Andy K]

Correct. Especially in Trinidad, when you take 3 hours to go home through the floods and only
with a 4x4 pickup truck or similar heavy equipment
But fortunately, we didn't have much of that this year yet

[Paul Tallet]

Oooh that sounds messy.

Well, Sir, I reckon you are in for a bit of rain this week ... so I guess it's time to get the big trucks out and get stuck in.

Regards

[Andy K]

Trust me i talk from experience. Even with the 4x4 it's not fun.
But Trinis always find their way around such situations. Mostly by stopping at one of the favourite
bars on the way and patiently waiting for the traffic (and the floods) to subside

[Paul Tallet]

I totally believe you Andy ... but the rains are likely to increase for a while over the next week or 2 ... so I guess you will know what to expect.

Have fun.

Regards

[Gisela Grell]

Hi Paul and Andy,

seems like you have your onw waffler thread now here. It looks like people are not going to Togago or maybe just don't about the weater.
I will have a look once in a while even I don't have the opportunity to go to Tobago this year.

Thanks Paul for the regualr weather report. It's worth a fortune!

Cheers
Gisela

[Andy K]

Paul,

yes i see this pack of clouds and rain on the satellite pics. Hope that will pass by until i have to do some outdoor
repairs in Tobago on Sunday. It should, i think it is pretty fast.

Gisela,

well the weather was unusually nice so not much to report and complain. The few tourists who were in Tobago during the last two months definately had a good time in terms of weather. Litte rainfall, good water visibility (for scuba divers and fishermen), moderate breeze ... just perfect.
The hurricane activity is exceptionally low this season, so far [knocks on wood], so no drama to report there either.
No big set of flash floods in Trinidad, no destruction of vegetable crop, therefore no threat of price increase for veg.
In other words... real boring
Well lets see what the next few days will be like. I hope i won't have to revise the statements i just made ...

[Paul Tallet]

Thank you Gisela ... at least someone takes me seriously

And thank you Andy for your feedback.

But it is going to rain ... if it hasn't started now it will start in a matter of hours ... it could be very heavy and it could last for more than a day (or 24 hours).

This may not be a storm ... it is a Wave, so watch out for possible squalls and localised flooding ... Waves can bring surprises.

Take care everyone for the next 48 hours.

Regards

[Andy K]

Well, here we go again.

For the first time this season i ended up in a flash flood on the eastern main road, Port of Spain, by 10 am this morning.
In a construction zone water raised up to approximately 2 feet height, reaching the fenders of my 4x4 pick-up van.
Some normal cars stalled in the floods. Why the hell they had to try driving through that "river" ?

Other than that, smooth sailing. The heavy rain was mostly for some early morning hours, and the impact was not
as bad as expected. If that was all, i don't expect any significant damage being caused by this weather system.

Paul, referring to what you mentioned about the November 2004 floods in Tobago, we need to remember that the 2004
season had been very wet, the soil being saturated and not able to deal with any additional amount of water.
(You may also remember 1999, when parts of the coastal road between Charlotteville and L'Anse Fourmie came down and
remained closed for many years after. That same week i lost a piece of appoximately 30 x 2 meters of my property, minus a retaining wall, which i voluntarily constructed after.)

2009 is SIGNIFICANTLY drier. In fact the WASA water intakes in Tobago almost looked like in the dry season two weeks ago. Water supply in my area was approximately 6 hours in 4 days. In other words, i don't expect any catastrophic effects this season even when we get some good showers or even one or two days of constant rain.

[Paul Tallet]

Interesting point Andy.

I wonder which option is the best poison ... you can have saturated land that will absorb rain until it causes landslides ... or you can have dry land that won't absord anything and it just floods.

Either way ... the heavy rains can cause alot of damage.

Regards

[Andy K]

Don't get me wrong, Paul.
The land is not dry like in the dry season. It is very well capable of absorbing water immediately.
It is just that we don't have water in abundance this year, and fortunately no significant land slides so far.
I sincerely hope it remains that way.