Tropical Storm Matthew is moving inland over Honduras at this hour. The storm made landfall this afternoon along the coast of Nicaragua and at about 5 o'clock this evening it was located about 40 miles west-southwest of the Honduras/Nicaragua border.
The latest update at 6:00 pm shows it packing winds of 50 miles and hour and moving toward the west near 15 miles per hour. on the current forecast track Matthew will continue to move across Honduras tonight and Saturday and move into Belize and Guatemala Saturday night and Sunday.
Local predictions is that might be brushing the southern part of our country as a tropical storm. Belize remains under a tropical storm watch.
Today Seven News caught up with the forecaster who told us what Belizeans can expect over the weekend.
Frank Tench, Jr Forecaster
"Tropical Storm Matthew is moving over land near the Nicaragua Honduras border and at 3 o' clock this afternoon its latitude was 14.7 degrees north longitude 83.7 degrees west. This position is just under 400 miles east southeast of Belize City."
Monica Bodden
"The storm is moving at what direction?
Frank Tench, Jr Forecaster
"It's moving at a westward track at about 13 miles per hour and maximum sustained winds have decreased to about 45 miles per hour. With a path over land it means that the strength and the tropical storm force winds would be significantly weaker across the greater part of the country where in the extreme south of the country - where it is expected to cross very close to - those winds will still pack considerable punch and be able to produce some damage. Regardless of the strength of the winds and the weakened state the storm is in I believe all parts of the country will experience some winds to some extent because the radius of the tropical storm force winds cover an extremely wide area. At this last report the extent of the tropical force winds were like 175 miles from the center which means the storm is a very big storm and still contains quite a few deep confected cells capable of producing quite an amount rainfall which is still the forecast we expect when the storm comes to Belize late Saturday night."
Monica Bodden
"What are we looking at in terms of rainfall?"
Frank Tench, Jr Forecaster
"We are expecting rainfall in the region of 3-5 inches per day. In the south where the storm is expected to cross, those rainfall amounts could be considerably higher, and bear in mind this storm would still be in our area on Sunday, so the accumulated rainfall amounts could range anywhere between 6-12 with localized high amounts between 15-18 inches especially in the south where the storm would likely make its closest approach to Belize."
Monica Bodden
"So we can expect some flooding?"
Frank Tench, Jr Forecaster
"Flooding is a distinct possibility for the southern parts of the country and even other parts of the country including Belize City and Belize District because remember that the most intense part of a storm is east and the north east quadrant and with the center passing very near the southern parts of the country those quadrants would be moving across the central and northern parts of the country so we could still get quite a bit of rainfall and the risk of flooding is still there."
The Belize Weather Bureau will continue to monitor the progress of Tropical Storm Matthew over the weekend and advises the public to stay tuned to their local advisories.
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