- - Curaçao - -

• From: sunny_skies at curacaowildlife.com
• Date: 28 Aug 2008 00:22:50 -0000

http://Stormcarib.com
20080827_20:23hrs (UTC -4)
Weather update for Curacao
Latitude: 12° 9'8.93"N
Longitude: 68°53'44.61"W
Report by: Ronald (sunny_skies -at- curacaowildlife.com)

Early this morning Curacao got dumped on by a massive raincloud from an outer 
band of Gustav and during the day everyone on the island got cooked like a pan 
dushi bread in the oven. With no wind in the air the sahara dust had no place 
to go but litterally hang around and as a result the sunheated dust particles 
acted like coal in a closed bbq: the heat was increased tenfold. Today we broke 
the heat record of 33 degrees celsius that was set in 1997!!! My intruments 
recorded temperatures soaring to 34 degrees celsius inland and 31 degrees near 
the shore.  Standing in line at the trafic lights almost caused drivers to 
faint. Breathing hot air through your mouth was unbearable. It felt like being 
in the desert during a sandstorm. Aug, Sept. and October are seasonally the 
hottest months of the year but we never before felt this kind of heat since the 
record temp of 33 in 1997. The sun has set and the temp is 29 degrees, and it 
is dropping slowly...THANK GOD!

Currently I am at Shete Boca (by myself) and I can see lightning offshore in 
the NW. This thunderstorm appears to be moving forward towards Curacao. The 
GOES satellite images however do not show anything NW of Curacao... I hope the 
rain does come this way to drive away the heat.

Ps: kudos to onenet & UTS for wireless internet via laptop.


(ps: this is for Annie in Bonaire: ticks travel on iguanas too.)

• From: help at curacaowildlife.com
• Date: 27 Aug 2008 04:22:05 -0000

• From: help at curacaowildlife.com
• Date: 27 Aug 2008 02:05:03 -0000

http://Stormcarib.com
20080826_22:04hrs (UTC -4)
Weather update for Curacao
Latitude: 12° 9'8.93"N
Longitude: 68°53'44.61"W
Report by: Birdman (help -at- curacaowildlife.com)

Hurricane Gustav which is heading away from the ABC islands towards Haiti which is still recovering from the damage done by Fay only 10 days ago.

Today in the am we had some light showers in Curacao, and then the rest of the day a wee bit hot, but sunny skies all day. Because the humidity was near 60 percent all afternoon it did not feel as hot as yesterday.

Currently we are at the southern coastline and about a half hour or so ago we witnessed a horizon wide sized wave of thunderstorms as far as the eye can see racing towards us. The speed at which it took to g et here really took us by surprise. It is not raining in our location but we can see that the inland is being soaked again for the second night in a row... yay...(no seriously, we do need some rain...)


 

• From: help at curacaowildlife.com
• Date: 26 Aug 2008 08:03:32 -0000

http://Stormcarib.com
20080826_04:03hrs (UTC -4)
Weather update for Curacao
Latitude: 12° 9'8.93"N
Longitude: 68°53'44.61"W
Report by: Giselle B. (help -at- curacaowildlife.com)

Invest 94 has now become Cat. 1 Hurricane Gustav which is heading away from the ABC islands towards Cuba.


The outer band of Hurricane Gustav continues to affect the weather in Curacao. Wind is turning, coming from south and heading towards North. 

Precipitation has decreased to light rain, thunderstorms have moved offshore and are heading towards Bonaire. Wind speed has dropped to: 7 mph / 11.2 km/h.
Furthermore sea level pressure has increased to 29.83 in / 1010 hPa.

We just registered the 72nd turtle nest during pouring rain...Birdman didn't bring a rainjacket and he's soaked :-)

ps: tnx to our sponsor Scarlet for wireless internet.
 

• From: help at curacaowildlife.com
• Date: 26 Aug 2008 07:17:02 -0000

• From: bonbini at dushicuracao.net
• Date: 26 Aug 2008 07:02:43 -0000

• From: help at curacaowildlife.com
• Date: 25 Aug 2008 21:05:20 -0000

http://Stormcarib.com
20080825_17:00hrs (GMT -4)
Weather update for Curacao
Latitude: 12° 9'8.93"N
Longitude: 68°53'44.61"W
Report by: Birdman (help -at- curacaowildlife.com)

Invest 94 brought heavy rain to Curacao yesterday. At seroeloraweg 6cm of rain was registered. Today only blue skies
and zero wind. A perfect day for flying and tanning at the beaches...
 

• From: bonbini at dushicuracao.net
• Date: 24 Aug 2008 18:47:59 -0000

Currently the weather is weird at Curacao":
along the southern coast flat sea, blue skies and partial cloudy in some parts 
whereas Bandabou, St.Joris, and Souax the rain is so heavy that the iguanas are 
falling out of the trees. The waves are huge at the northern surfer's paradise 
cove Playa Canoa whereas teh sea is flat along the southern coastline... weird.

and this is just the start....according to the sat images there is more to come.

• From: bonbini at dushicuracao.net
• Date: 24 Aug 2008 15:39:32 -0000

http://Stormcarib.com
20080824_11:33hrs (GMT -4)
Weather update for Curacao
Latitude: 12° 9'8.93"N
Longitude: 68°53'44.61"W
Report by: Marcus DeMaaijer (bonbini -at- dushicuracao.net)

The thunderstorm ahead of Invest 94 brought heavy rain to Curacao between 1am and 8:30 am. Currently we have blue skies in some parts and partial overcast skies in other parts as we are right in between of the two waves. The center of the next wave - which is called invest 94 - is expected to pass due north of Curacao between 4 and 8 pm local time UTC -4. The first part of the front can be experienced between noon and 1 pm today. Since August and September are the seasonal times of the year for warwaru's (tiny funnel clouds) we should keep our eyes to the sky for the next 30 days, because these warwaru's are so tiny, there is no advance warning possible other than personal observation and subsequent visual monitoring of a dark cloud overhead...

Warwaru's that occur in Curacao are known not to be as severe as the ones you find on the American mainland. Tornadoes - as they are called in the USA - are measured rom category 1 thru 5. The warwaru's in Curacao are in the same strngth measurement about 0.2 tot 0.6, so very weak in comparison to their American counterparts.
Furthermore, the warwaru's in Curacao are very  rare natural events that do not last more than ten minutes after touching ground. Damage to surroundings can vary from toppled trees and unsolid built roofs ripped off houses and garages and cars moved into the neighbor's yard. The warwaru's are fortunately most times not strong enough to suck a vehicle into the air (thank god). Humans on the other hand should take cover and walk into the opposite direction...yes this is a no brainer but during yesterday's warwaru, people ran towards it to see what was going on... It was a miracle that no fool got hurt by swirling debris...

you can view new pictures of yesterday's warwaru at http://www.24ora.com/content/view/5908/6/ (Kudos 2 Bonaire's StormCarib correspondent Ann Phelan for this link)




 

• From: bonbini at dushicuracao.net
• Date: 24 Aug 2008 05:41:26 -0000

http://Stormcarib.com
20080824_01:33hrs (GMT -4)
Weather update for Curacao
Latitude: 12° 9'8.93"N
Longitude: 68°53'44.61"W
Report by: Marcus DeMaaijer (bonbini -at- dushicuracao.net)

At about 1 am a loud thunder sound knocked me out of bed. Upon
consulting the sat images at stormcarib I saw this wave of bad
weather below racing towards us, whereas at 6 pm yesterday it
appeared to miss us completely due north.

This update shows a diferent scenario.

Around 10 am on saturday August 23 (yesterday) two mini
tornadoes caused havoc in the Buena Vista neighborhood
ripping roofs open and sucking furniture into the air.
Fortunately, no human loss of life. Sadly an entire iguana
family became treeless after their wabi tree was knocked down.
 

• From: bonbini at dushicuracao.net
• Date: 17 Aug 2008 20:48:27 -0000

The eye of cat. 1 hurricane Fay will pass just by my uncle's house on Tuesday 
at 2 pm... He will email me some pictures and I'll place them here.

• From: Marcus DeMaaijer <demaaijer at yahoo.com>
• Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2008 11:14:53 -0700 (PDT)

• From: Marcus DeMaaijer <demaaijer at yahoo.com>
• Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2008 09:51:09 -0700 (PDT)

• From: bonbini at dushicuracao.net
• Date: 6 Aug 2008 14:30:46 -0000

This morning around 7 am a rather small rain system rolled over Curacao coming 
in from the SouthEast from Venezuela. Some heave to moderate rain fell in some 
spots in Curacao. There was even a funnel cloud spotted at sea NE of Playa 
Canoa that did not touch the water. If it did it could have become a 
waterspout. Around 8am some light rain touched ground here and there, and a 
half hour later the skies cleared up. Another small wave with lotsa moisture is 
heading towards Curacao, but it is still about 3 to 5 hours away, so anything 
can happen: it can still dissipate or vear off to the north. 

Most funnel clouds near Curacao are observed far offshore and rarely hit land. 
A funnel cloud is a funnel-shaped cloud of condensed water droplets, associated 
with a rotating column of air and extending from the base of a cloud (usually a 
cumulonimbus or towering cumulus cloud) but not reaching the ground or a water 
surface. A funnel cloud is usually visible as a cone-shaped or needle like 
protuberance from the main cloud base. Funnel clouds frequently form in 
association with supercell thunderstorms.

If a funnel cloud touches the ground it becomes a tornado. Most tornadoes begin 
as funnel clouds, but many funnel clouds do not make ground contact and so do 
not become tornadoes. Also, a tornado does not necessarily need to have an 
associated condensation funnel?if strong cyclonic winds are occurring at the 
surface, then the feature is a tornado. Some tornadoes may appear only as a 
debris swirl, with no obvious funnel cloud extending below the rotating cloud 
base.

A funnel cloud that touches down on, or moves over water is a waterspout. 

Most funnel clouds near Curacao are waterspouts and are fairly unstable and 
will dissipate within minutes after forming.

• From: bonbini at dushicuracao.net
• Date: 4 Aug 2008 16:01:02 -0000

Invest 99 is forecasted to head up, up, and then away from the Caribbean and 
become a nuisance for the Atlantic maritime traffic.

http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/at200899.track.html

This is a good start of the month August this hurricane season...

Curacao was drenched a bit around 10 am yesterday, and from then on only sunny 
skies. The wind is a bit strong and gusty but that is great for kitesurfing at 
St Joris and windsurfing at Mambo and Cat Sailing at Jan Thiel, and flying 
kites at SDK's parkinglot.

This afternoon I'll be flying kites myself at Playa Canoa after 6pm...cya there?

• From: bonbini at dushicuracao.net
• Date: 2 Aug 2008 05:21:43 -0000

Yes Siree,

Just came back from watching a rare green turtle lay eggs in the sand at a 
northern beach cove in Curacao. A few nights ago another green turtle lay her 
eggs at Klein Curacao, a mile long island approx 10 miles due southeast of 
Curacao.

Nothing noteworthy to report about the weather since July 23rd other than 
everyday blue skies and after each b-e-a-u-t-i-ful sunset only clear starry 
skies. I hope this weather keeps up for the August 12 meteor shower watch so 
that you can expect to count between 20 and 30 meteors per hour during the 
Perseids Meteor Shower.

This meteor event is taking place round the clock at every minute of each 24 
hours day. This year, the shower will be active between about July 30 and 
August 25. Of course, fewer meteors will be visible further away from the 
August 12 peak. 

Just like striking a match goes unnoticed outdoors at noon, you can lay on your 
back all day and watch the skies to detect a space rock bouncing off molecules 
in our atmosphere, but you can't see it against a sunlit sky. Your best chances 
are at night in an area which is not illumuninated by any type of lightsource. 
Your best bet will be an open field away from the lights of streets, PDVSA, 
homes and office buildings. In Curacao this is at Playa Canoa, Watamula, 
St.Joris, Fuik, San Juan, Ascenshon, Kristof, Shete Boca, Daaibooi baai, 
Caracasbaai, Zoutpan di Willibrordes, St. Michielbaai, tereno di Maal, to name 
a few. 

You don't need a campfire, flashlights, or binoculars. All you need is a beach 
chair, air mattress, or anything else that allows you to be in a relatively 
horizontal position (standing up is vertical). And oh yeah...very important 
items to remember when going meteor shower watching: bug spray for the 
mosquitos and no-see-ums, cookies, fruit, and a non-alcoholic beverages. 
Alcohol interferes with the eye?s adaption to the dark.

Photography tips: set your camera on a tripod. Look in the sky for the area 
with the most activity. Aim your lens in that direction with 8.0 or 11.0 
F-stop, and set your shutter to bulb or long exposures for 2 to 4 minutes 
depending on how illumintaed your area is. Since the meteors are quite small, 
it is best to use a shutter release other than your fingers. Weighing down your 
tripod with sandbags may prevent/reduce the jitter caused by wind.

My excuses for the long explenation, and the words between "(" and ")". But it 
had to be done because for example I was asked last wednesday: "...so this 
meteor watching is in the morning, afternoon or at night?" and "what if they 
fall on my head..." LOL!

Let me end this with my own question: ...is it coincedence that the Perseids 
meteor shower happens at the same time when turtles come ashore to lay their 
eggs?

• From: bonbini at dushicuracao.net
• Date: 23 Jul 2008 13:16:45 -0000

Woke up this morning to a bright sunset in blue cloudless sky. Currently still 
sunny with blue skies and a nice cool breeze...perfect weather for a nice day 
at the beach or to go to Punda / Otrobanda with friends and family!!

Good news! the Saharan Air Layer has swallowed up invest 97 overnight.

Currently there are two small systems in the Atlantic that could be 
rainbringers...keep your fingers crossed...

• From: bonbini at dushicuracao.net
• Date: 22 Jul 2008 20:10:45 -0000

 Tracking Info For Invest 97      

 
Date            Time       Lat     Lon        Wind            Pressure   Storm type
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
20080722  0800hrs  16.4N   20.2W    20mph  32km/h     1011      Invest
20080722  1400hrs  16.7N   21.4W    20mph  32km/h     1009      Invest


And right here in Curacao the weather is just perfect with calm seas and blue skies.

• From: bonbini at dushicuracao.net
• Date: 22 Jul 2008 14:48:28 -0000

• From: bonbini at dushicuracao.net
• Date: 22 Jul 2008 06:29:28 -0000

http://Stormcarib.com
20080722_02:26hrs (GMT -4)
Weather update for Curacao
Latitude: 12° 9'8.93"N
Longitude: 68°53'44.61"W
Report by: Marcus DeMaaijer (bonbini -at- dushicuracao.net)

Okay, now this is weird... I placed stormcarib dot com at top and when I check 
the page it is stormcarib dot net... 

(drumroll)

...but I found the culprit!! 

(trumpets and horns)

it is an autocorrect feature of my outgoing email that does that...!!?!!

I have it turned off now, so that ought not happen again... (see top of this 
post)

ps: douwe egberts vs nescafe is like lada vs ferrari...nescafe has no 
replacement as a pick me upper wake me upper

• From: bonbini at dushicuracao.net
• Date: 22 Jul 2008 06:18:15 -0000

http://StormCarib.net
20080722_02:04hrs (GMT -4)
Weather update for Curacao
Latitude: 12° 9'8.93"N
Longitude: 68°53'44.61"W
Report by: Marcus DeMaaijer (bonbini -at- dushicuracao.net)


I just came back from guarding a huge leatherback turtle who was laying her eggs on a beach a loooong ways from my house. Before hopping into bed to catch zome zzz's I took a gander at that wave that swooped off the African coast and made its way towards the caribbean. Currently this wave is not affected by SAL (Saharan Air Layer). In some situations the SAL is able to have a significant negative impact on the development of waves coming off the African coast that head towards the Caribbean. Its dry air can act to weaken a tropical cyclone by inhibiting updrafts in the storm, while its strong winds can substantially increase the vertical wind shear in and around the storm environment.& nbsp; 

This wave is also located in the warmest water region of the Atlantic. Both events of the SAL and the wave being in warmest Atlantic waters are favourable conditions for this wave to develop into something nasty... so keep your browsers n eyes on it.



Weather images:

• From: bonbini at dushicuracao.net
• Date: 18 Jul 2008 14:35:27 -0000

http://StormCarib.net
20080718_10:29hrs (GMT -4)
Weather update for Curacao
Latitude: 12° 9'8.93"N
Longitude: 68°53'44.61"W
Report by: Marcus DeMaaijer (bonbini -at- dushicuracao.net)

Temp: 77.0 °F / 25.0 °C
Hum: 89%
Pressure: 1011 hPa
Visisbility: 3.1 miles / 5.0 kilometers
Wind: SSE 3 mph / 4.8 km/h 
 
In the distance due north we can witness a lightning storm over open sea as invest 94's more stronger center is passing Curacao due north. The outer bands of invest 94, especially the bottom right quadrant, is passing over Curacao and is currently responsible for the rainshowers varying from light to heavy all over the island.
 
Invest 94 was expected to arive early saturday morning but it picked up its pace yesterday and arrived this morning. Fast moving systems are favourable for the climate of Curacao since non-overave rage shower activity will not be able to cause flooding and not uproot trees that have been awaiting rain in dry & dusty soil.

Once more the seas are quite tranquil and there is little or no wind. The sky is 100% overcast.


What can we expect elsewhere in the region for the next 72 hours...

Storm Bertha is heading towards the UK and Holland (see bottom image), invest 94 will fall apart and not develop into a storm. The storm in the bottom left part of the bottom image will head west into the pacific, away from the Americas...

Weather images:

• From: info at turfoto.net
• Date: 17 Jul 2008 22:00:24 -0000

no rain, no wind, no sun...that pretyy much sums it all up for Curacao. The 
long awaited rains did not come round today. We saw some really dark clouds 
pass overhead in a totally overcast sky, but no rainshower. The zero wind and 
zero current caused the sea to be totally flat. Overall the temperature peaked 
at 28 celsius and is now now 26 and still dropping. It kinda feels like I'm 
back in the Rocky mountains in October... I feel like starting a fire.. but no 
dead pinetrees around here to chop to firewood... heh..

invest 94 is still heading towards us, so hopefully that'll bring some rain 
instead...

• From: info at turfoto.net
• Date: 17 Jul 2008 17:47:38 -0000

http://StormCarib.net 
20080717 1342 hrs
weather forecast update

Curacao is eagerly awaiting some rain. Currently we are experiencing a hazy and overcast sky, with little to zero wind.

posted by Marcus DeMaaijer

• From: info at turfoto.net
• Date: 16 Jul 2008 16:03:22 -0000

http://StormCarib.net 
20080716 1204 hrs
weather forecast update

Curacao is eagerly awaiting the report of the storm recon plane which will fly 
into invest_94 this afternoon. Yesterday all computer models showed this system 
moving north and away from Curacao. Whereas right now 12 out of 15 computer 
models shows this system passing smack center over Curacao in 3 to 3.5 days 
from now.

posted by Marcus DeMaaijer

• From: bonbini at dushicuracao.net
• Date: 14 Jul 2008 19:34:21 -0000

The rain has passed, the wind is calm, and the thunder is gone. All is quiet 
again in Curacao. Dark skies remain and will soon pass as well.

• From: bonbini at dushicuracao.net
• Date: 14 Jul 2008 18:35:07 -0000

Current conditions in Curacao:

Heavy rain accompanied by thunder and strong windgusts in Bandariba of Curacao. 
Dark skies reported at Banda Bou with strong wind gusts but no rain over there 
yet.

Forcast by Marcus.

• From: bonbini at dushicuracao.net
• Date: 14 Jul 2008 16:43:02 -0000

Okay, here come our well needed rain for our wells...

• From: sunny_skies at curacaowildlife.com
• Date: 11 Jul 2008 01:22:01 -0000

Three hours ago at 6 pm there was a wave of gusty wind that sweeped over 
Curacao caused by the cold front colliding with the hot late afternoon air. 
Rain was expected. But the wave of convection took a last minute turn to the 
north and passed Curacao altogether. Right now its a chilly 21 degrees celsius 
with a clear sky and almost zero wind. 

It feels kinda earie like Oct 31, 3 years ago...

If I had a fireplace, I'd be chopping wood right now and roasting 
marshmellows...

• From: sunny_skies at curacaowildlife.com
• Date: 26 Jun 2008 20:53:16 -0000

Gail force winds passing along southern coastline of Curacao heading WNW in the 
direction of Aruba.

• From: sunny_skies at curacaowildlife.com
• Date: 16 Jun 2008 16:22:17 -0000

The last 2 weeks of June are ususally very windy. Currently we are experiencing 
inland easterly windspeed around 20 mph / 32 km/h and coastal windspeeds of  33 
mph / 52.8 km/h. A few scattered clouds in a hazy sky. The rough seas are a 
challange for small boats and produce fantastic surfing conditions at playa 
canoa! 

• From: sunny_skies at curacaowildlife.com
• Date: 8 Jun 2008 11:15:42 -0000

Trini God TY4RAIN!

A short shower this morning but nevertheless every drop counts to replenish our 
water supplies after a 4 month drought. It is easy to predict the weather when 
a wave comes at us from the east, having passed over Trinidad and others due 
east of us. It is a bit more difficult when it arrives from the west because 
other than Aruba, there is no other reliable weather station or stormcarib 
correspondent for that matter due west of us.

The water vapor sat image shows something developing due south west of us. 
Let's hope it will still be intact after moving and passing the mountain range 
of Venezuela. Usually waves with rain are ripped to shreds at or near the 
Venezuelan mountain range, so let's keep our fingers crossed for more rain in 4 
to 6 hours from now.

• From: sunny_skies at curacaowildlife.com
• Date: 5 Jun 2008 13:15:51 -0000

Hey Trini God send some rain to Curacao!

• From: "Devin Balentina" <blue13x at hotmail.com>
• Date: Fri, 9 May 2008 09:49:34 -0400

• From: sunny_skies at curacaowildlife.com
• Date: 1 May 2008 17:32:11 -0000

At approx 12:30 pm a light tremor struck Curacao. No property damages and no 
personal injuries were incurred.

• From: sunny_skies at curacaowildlife.com
• Date: 27 Apr 2008 16:31:38 -0000

Atlantic Hurricane Season commences officially 35 days from today. Is everybody 
ready? Get your food, water, and other supplies together right now. Don't wait 
till something comes our way, cuz by then the items you need will be scarce, 
hard to find, or not available at all. Don't forget to acquire supplies and 
safe shelter for your pets.

By the way, keep an eye on the African coast, cuz history teaches us that the 
weather still being unpredictable, something could head our way before June 1 
2008.

sunny regards,

Curacao Wildlife staff
sunny_skies [at] curacaowildlife [dot] com


Arie
Andre
Giselle
Johan
Marcus
Nacho
Ronald
Wendy