Hmmmmm, it’s getting worse, according to this report on Weather Underground.
“Tropical Storm Noel continues to represent a serious rainfall threat to the Dominican Republic and Haiti due to the storm’s very slow motion. Noel has essentially stalled out tonight, and is dumping very heavy rains over the southernmost tip of the Dominican Republic–the Barahona Peninsula. Most of Noel’s heaviest rains are still offshore, but these rains will move inland over the island of Hispaniola tonight, and pound the island for at least the next two days. This will result in an extremely dangerous flooding situation in the southern portion of both Haiti and the Dominican Republic, due to the high mountains that will enhance Noel’s rains. Long range radar out of Puerto Rico shows heavy rains affecting Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, and these rains have already exceeded eight inches over a wide area of ocean to the east of Noel’s center. Tonight’s weather discussion from the National Weather Service in San Juan, Puerto Rico, called the situation on that island “an increasingly more dangerous and life-threatening event for many areas.” Many flash floods and mudslides have been reported on the island, and with at least 24 more hours of flooding rains expected there, the island can expect millions of dollars in flooding damage from Noel.
The flooding situation on Hispaniola will be far worse. Satellite loops show very vigorous thunderstorms reaching high into the atmosphere have developed on the storm’s northeast side. These thunderstorms will trigger rains of up to 1-2 inches per hour when they move over Hispaniola Monday. With Noel moving very slowly and expected to bring heavy rains to the island for at least two days, a flooding situation as dangerous as occurred in 2004 with Hurricane Jeanne may result. Jeanne passed just north of Haiti as a tropical depression, dumping about 13 inches of rain over the northern mountains. The resulting floods killed over 3,000 people.”
It’s night time here and I’ve finally seen some lightning flashes–so far, we’ve had no thunderstorms. If the system is indeed stalling over the D.R., there will be a lot more rain a’coming, according to the forecast above. Check out the latest infrared map. [EDIT on 11/25/09: The map’s not available. Use imagination :smile:] The pink and dark red areas represent the highest of the cloud tops, meaning more action, more rain, more wind, more thunder, etc., and they’re headed right for Boca Chica. Very cool, but a bit worrisome, though we’re close to the ocean and, thus, are living in very flat country, far from any mountainous regions, so flash floods and mudslides are not going to be a problem. (Tsunamis, of course, would see me running like hell.) Still, I’m very curious about what our fields will look like in the morning light. Maybe I should break out a fishing pole, or, better still, a boat? I’m very aware, though, of the danger posed to our neighbors to the west, the Haitians on the far third of the island. May their god(s) be with them. More later. (Glub, glub.)