Western Caribbean Low Not Tropical But a Rainmaker in Central America

A low pressure area in the western Caribbean Sea still has a slight chance of developing into a tropical depression as it closes in for a landfall, but that's not stopping it from dropping heavy rainfall in Central America today.

The low is forecast to make landfall on the Belize coast today, November 19, and continues to move westward and further inland. Although the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Fla. still gives the system a ten percent chance of developing into a tropical depression, it continues to drop moderate to heavy rainfall over Belize and Guatemala today.

At 1 a.m. EST today, the center of the low was located near Roatan Island, Honduras near 16.9 North and 85.8 West.

By 7 a.m. EST, the weak low pressure area had disorganized showers and thunderstorms. It was centered over the Gulf of Honduras and was moving westward between 5 and 10 mph. It is expected to move inland later today over Belize and Guatemala.

Tropical Storm Jal

Today's AIRS imagery hints that circulation is still occurring in Jal's remnants. The circulation was particularly apparent in the AIRS visible image. The AIRS infrared satellite image showed that the strongest convection and thunderstorms are now occurring to the west of the center of circulation and over the open waters of the Arabian Sea.

At 900 GMT (4 a.m. EST) on Nov. 9, the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Jal was over the waters of the eastern Arabian Sea. The Arabian Sea is located in the northwestern part of the Indian Ocean and covers a total area of about 1,491,000 square miles.

Relative to land and the nearest city in India, Jal's remnant low was about 70 miles east-southeast of Mumbai near 17.4 North and 71.9 East. Mumbai is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra and is located on India's west coast. It is the most populous city in India with 14 million residents.

The forecasters at the Joint Typhoon Warning Center are monitoring Jal's remnants for possible regeneration later today.