QCOSTARICA – The indirect influence of a tropical depression that is about to become Tropical Storm Gamma, near the Caribbean coast of Mexico, will generate rainy conditions throughout the weekend.
The Pacific coast, the northern area and the mountains of the Caribbean, in the Talamanca mountain range, the Turrialba area and in the vicinity of the Zurquí tunnel will have the most rainfall due to the indirect influence of the disturbance that as of this Friday is classified as a minor cyclone.
Although in the Central Valley the influence will be less, intermittent downpours with lightning are expected in the afternoons, typical of the month of October, said meteorologist Gabriela Chinchilla, from the Instituto Meteorológico Nacional (IMN), the national weather service.
“We have several systems, on the one hand, the intertropical convergence zone, which is quite active, the indirect influence of a cyclone in the Caribbean and this Saturday tropical wave 43 is expected to pass over the region,” she said.
If the Caribbean cyclone, which on Friday was tropical depression No. 25, will turn into a tropical storm, with associated winds between 63 and 118 kilometers per hour, capable of generating heavy downpours in the Central American region.
This tropical depression formed almost in the same area where the storm Marco formed in late August, whose indirect influence caused flooding in Guanacaste and later became a hurricane that struck Louisiana in the United States.
Downpours are expected for today, Saturday, in the central and north Pacific, with a thunderstorm and accumulated up to 100 liters per square meter throughout the day.
For the Central Valley, northern zone and mountains of the Caribbean, the downpours will be isolated and the accumulated amounts will be half, compared to those of the Pacific.
The IMN calls for special attention in all regions of the Pacific, as well as in Sarapiquí and neighboring sectors of the north.
Also in the upper parts of the Caribbean and the south of the Central Valley (Aserrí, Desamparados) and to the east (Coronado, Goicoechea, Moravia, Curridabat) since the soils remain saturated due to the rains of the last days.
The yellow alert issued by the Comisión Nacional de Emergencias (CNE) – National Emergency Commission – for the Pacific, the northern zone and the Central Valley, are still in force, as is the green alert in the Caribbean.
This year more hurricanes were formed than anticipated and that is why to name those that continue to form, we had to go to the Greek alphabet, a situation that had not happened since 2005.
Since September, with the formation of Storm Wilfred, the names that, in alphabetical order, were chosen by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for the current Atlantic hurricane season, which ends on November 30, have been exhausted.
