November 24, 2024

Good morning Bay Islands. Our photo of the day is from Edwin Domingo Mejia and is a reminder that shipping is an important employer on the islands.
The west side and Utila got about half an inch yesterday afternoon and all of us got between half an inch and an inch overnight and this morning. We are watching a norther for Tuesday and Wednesday and perhaps something tropical brewing to our south for the first of December.

We wake up to lots of clouds around and showers around. These are drifting to the southwest. We will keep scattered showers around this morning. We should have some breaks in the rain this afternoon and probably tonight. Tomorrow we will have a 40 percent chance of a shower and 100 percent chances of rain, sometimes heavy, for Tuesday and Wednesday. Most models give us 2-4 inches through Wednesday. After that we go to 40-50 percent chances each day through the weekend.

Wind and Galaxy Wave forecast: We wake up to north winds 10-15 mph and seas around 3 feet. Winds should calm to 5-10 mph and seas to 2 feet as the day goes along. Winds turn to the west tomorrow at 10-15 mph and seas 2 feet. Tuesday and Wednesday we will have north winds 10-20 mph and seas 3-4 feet.
BTW, how about those cool temperatures this morning? We got down to 71 degrees (22C) at the airport.

Lowest tide is just before midnight. Have a great Sunday!

November 23, 2024

Good morning Bay Islands. Our photo of the day comes from Alina Solorzano and shows a sunset near Diamond Rock. If you would like to submit a photo and compete at the end of the month for a $50 gift certificate to Umbul Umbul in West End, send your photo with name and location to Bookmybio@gmail.com.
We start the day with some clouds especially east side, but we are looking for another norther Tuesday into Wednesday.

Our satellite this morning shows some clouds coming down from the north. They have given Mike Strine in Camp Bay around .06 of an inch at 9 a.m. We will have a 30 percent chance of a rain shower throughout the day. That chance goes up to 60 percent overnight into tomorrow morning. It goes back down to 30 percent tomorrow midday and afternoon. Monday evening through Wednesday morning we will have occasional rain showers from another norther, that should be weaker than the one we just experienced.

Wind and Galaxy Wave forecast: Our seas have beens slow to calm after our last norther. This morning we are at 4 foot seas with 10 mph winds. Those should calm to 3 foot today, 2 foot tomorrow and 1-2 feet Monday, with mild north breezes. Tuesday seas will be 2-3 feet as winds pick up 10-15 mph from the north. This norther will not be as windy as the last one was and winds and seas will remain around 10-15 mph and 3 foot for Wednesday.

Lowest tide is 11 p.m. Have a great weekend!

November 22, 2024

Good morning Bay Islands. Our photo of the day comes from Joyann Villalta Sanders and shows blue skies over Calabash Bight. We are seeing blue skies this morning after a lot of rain yesterday, 3 inches in many places. Today should be nice, but windy. We start the day with north winds 20 mph and seas around 5 feet north side. Those winds will be around 20 mph all day, but by evening our seas should be down to 4-5 feet.

Saturday and Sunday we will have partly to mostly cloudy skies and occasional light rain showers, especially on Sunday. Winds Saturday will be from the north at 10 mph and seas 3-4 feet. Sunday we will have north winds at 5 mph and seas 2-3 feet.
Monday evening rain showers return with a norther that will not be as strong as this one. Winds will be from the north at 10-15 mph and seas 3-4 feet northside Tuesday and Wednesday with occasional rain showers.

The Galaxy Wave is now selling Bojangles chicken boxes at its Brick Bay terminal for lunch. Grab a box and enjoy while taking that weekend excursion to Guanaja.

Low tides are 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. Have a great day!

Roatan weather for November 21, 2024

Good morning Bay Islands. Our photo of the day comes from Alex Fleig and shows the moonshine over Jonesville Point. We probably won’t be seeing the moon much tonight.

This morning at 7:30 the heaviest rain seems to be to our west over Tela and Puerto Cortes and off to our northeast, but we have already gotten about a half inch midisland. We will have off-and-on showers today, periods of heavy rain this evening and tonight and rain ending tomorrow morning. We will also have north/northwest winds building to 20-25 mph and seas increasing during the day until they are around 6 feet this evening and overnight.

This is the rainfall prediction for the next 48 hours. This is a typical norther. The winds hit the mountains on the mainland, which causes them to be pushed upward, causing more rain the fall. The heaviest rain, around 8 inches, should fall between us and La Ceiba, but we can expect some downpours.

For the weekend we will have some clouds and periods of light rain, but also some periods of sun, but cooler temperatures and a light north breeze. I’ll be very interested in seeing what the low temperatures are Saturday morning. Probably around 70 (21C).

We have another norther forecast for Tuesday into Wednesday, but this one should be less wind and rain, with north winds 15-20 mph and seas 4-5 feet.

If you want to keep your furry friends warm, get with Mitch Cummins and order locally-sourced food designed for your pooch. And if you have kitties, contact Roatan Pets and ask about their new lines of cat food!

Low tide is right now (8 a.m.) have a great Thursday!

November 20, 2024

Good morning Bay Islands. Our photo of the day comes from Jeff Bodin in Carib Bight and shows Sara receding over the mainland this past weekend. We have another storm coming, but this time it is not a tropical storm but a norther. For you tourists reading this, that is what locals call a cold front. It brings cool temperatures, gusty north winds and rain showers.

This wind map shows the leading edge of the norther stretching from Tampa through the Yucatan. Today we will have west winds at 15 mph and seas around 3 feet, calming to 2 feet this evening.

Tomorrow morning we will start to see the winds turn to the north and increase through the day. Tomorrow we will have off-and-on showers through the day, tomorrow night and into Friday morning. Rainfall totals will be nothing like Sara. We should get 1-2 inches out of this norther. Seas will be 5-6 feet on the northside tomorrow evening through Friday morning.
The weekend north winds will calm to 5-10 mph and seas to 2-3 feet and light showers here or there and much cooler temperatures with around 70 for lows and 80 for highs.
We have another norther, perhaps not as windy but may a little rainier, for Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.

Even when the forecast is a little concerning, you can trust the folks at Jolly Roger Roatan to give you the best time possible around the island and get you back on your boat safely. Request their excursions from your cruise’s activities director.

Low tide is 8 p.m. Have a great Wednesday!

November 19, 2024

Good morning Bay Islands. Our photo of the day comes from Keena Haylock and shows sunrise at Parrot Tree.
We will have a nice day today and probably a decent day tomorrow but Thursday into Friday we will get north winds and off-and-on rain showers.

Here is the satellite image showing mostly clear skies over us, but a cold front coming down from the US. Today we will have east winds 5-10 mph and seas 2-3 feet.

Tomorrow winds turn to the west at 5-10 mph and seas 2 feet and a 40 percent chance of getting a shower.

Thursday will start off with west winds around 10 mph and seas 2-3 feet, but they will increase as the day goes along to north winds 20-25 mph and seas 4-6 feet. We will have good chances of thunderstorms, especially Thursday night into Friday morning.

Rain will decrease Friday afternoon and the weekend looks nice with light breezes and cooler temperatures. We’ve been around 86 for highs and 79 for lows. After the front passes we should be around 82 for highs and 72 for lows.

There’s no better time than a norther to pick up some meats for grilling at Carniceria Rosita. Hot meats on a fresh day are my idea of heaven.

Low tide is 6:40 a.m. Have a great Tuesday!


November 18, 2024

Good morning Bay Islands. Our photo of the day comes from Kenneth Meissner and shows our full moon over Gibson Bight.
Aside from a 20 mph east wind and 4 foot seas are weather is finally pretty quiet. We should continue to have nice weather today and tomorrow with only a very small chance of a passing shower. Wednesday the winds turn the the west and the chance of rain increases as the day goes along. Thursday night into Friday we will have a norther with 20-25 mph north winds, 4-5 foot seas and 1-3 inches of rain.

Wind and Galaxy Wave forecast: As mentioned above we wake up to 20 mph east winds and 4 foot seas. Those should calm this afternoon to 15 mph and 3 foot seas. We will get windier again tonight, much like last night. Tomorrow winds will be from the east 10-15 mph and seas 2-3 feet. Wednesday winds turn to the west 10-15 mph and seas 1-2 feet. Thursday winds turn to the northwest and will be picking up speed until Thursday night into Friday we have north winds 20-25 mph and seas 6 feet. Winds and seas will be a little better Saturday and a lot better Sunday.

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Lowest tide is 5:30 a.m. tomorrow. Have a great week!

November 17, 2024

Good morning Bay Islands. Our photo of the day comes from Jim Jaskunas in Sandy Bay and shows a full rainbow yesterday. Tropical Storm Sara left around a foot of rain across our islands and as it exited to our west it strengthened a bit, formed an eye and created what seems to be 50 mph winds (our weather stations didn’t seem to get the peak winds, they only registered 30 mph) and 6 foot waves (again our buoys failed to measure well) on top of what was likely a 3 foot storm surge. This caused significant damage to the south-facing seafront businesses in Utila. The storm is now inland in Belize. Utila had showers earlier this morning. This will start clearing out today.

Here are our rainfall totals. I included the rogue storm Wednesday, though not technically part of Sara.

Today we will keep quite a few clouds around, but only about a 40 percent chance of a passing shower. Winds will be light today, but they will pick up from the east 20 mph tonight with seas 4 feet.

Tomorrow winds will be 15-20 mph from the east during the day and 20-25 mph tomorrow night with seas 3-4 feet.

Monday and Tuesday we probably get a break from the rain, but winds turn to the west Wednesday and a norther comes in Thursday and Friday bringing 20 mph north winds, 5 foot seas northside and rain.

Low tide is 4:30 a.m. Have a great Sunday!

November 16, 2024

Good morning Bay Islands. We will return with an appropriate photo of the day from Mara Owens in Sandy Bay with a rainbow over Spooky Channel. She reminds us that the rainbow is God’s symbol of peace given to Noah after the flood. We have definitely had a flood: 7-10 inches on Roatan, around 15 inches on Utila. I’ll do a map later today. Hopefully more of the weather stations will come back online as communications are restored. But also, totals are not quite as bad as the worst predictions. I think some areas of the mainland may have gotten it worse.

The storm continues to looks quite ragged on satellite. We are near the center and that actually is a good thing because most of the rain is well to the east and the west. The National Hurricane Center still reports 45 mph maximum sustained winds, but the worst winds seem to be well to our north and even those are only around 30 mph at the surfact. Most locations on Roatan show 10-15 mph winds currently.
We will still have scattered showers today and probably a few more downpours tonight. Most forecasts say 1-2 inches of rain in the next 24 hours, but if you get under the wrong cloud you can get more.
Sunday we may have a few lingering showers in the morning, but we should also see lots of sun with light winds. Monday and Tuesday look nice. Wednesday our winds start to turn to the east in advance of a norther that will bring us north winds 20-25 mph, strong seas northside and rain, especially Thursday evening into Friday.

Seas are 4 feet this morning and should decrease throughout the day and night until they are 2 feet tomorrow.
I will be back later today with an update and rain totals map.

One place that will be open today (the tomorrow in this ad is really for today) is our friends at Ikigai by Robby Molina. If you can make it to French Harbour, enjoy a gourmet meal and share your storm stories with Robby and Melissa.

November 15, 2024 8 a.m.

Here is the 6 a.m. position of the storm, shown as 40 miles east of Guanaja, but in the discussion the National Hurricane Center admits they are having a hard time finding a center. Interaction with land has left this storm ragged. That is good news for us.

Last night we had some gusty winds and heavy rain, but this morning we see light at the end of the tunnel. Look at the structure of the storm on satellite. It definitely doesn’t look like the classic hurricane with strong rotation and an eye in the middle. You can see less strength in the northeast section of the storm, which is the section we are about to enter.

You can see on radar that most of the rain is to our west. I don’t 100 percent trust the Belize City radar because it is so far away, but any rain over us and to our east is probably lighter. It is always possible a storm can reform and cause us a downpour, but chances are good that we will see lighter rain totals today than yesterday and maybe even a peak of sun here or there.

Buoys are showing east/northeast winds this morning around 30 mph. Seas are showing around 8 feet outside the reef. Winds and seas should stay right around 20-30 mph today and seas 7-8 feet. Tomorrow the winds will turn to the east/southeast and the southside will finally get the gusty winds, but right now they still look to be in that 15-25 mph range on the storm’s weaker, eastern side.

Looking ahead, conditions will really start improving on Sunday with some occasional showers as the storm moves into Belize with southeast winds 5-10 mph and seas 2-3 feet. Monday and Tuesday look partly cloudy with perhaps some gusty east winds Monday night. Wednesday winds turn to the west in advance of a norther (cold front) and Thursday evening into Friday morning we will be dealing with a norther with gusty north winds, cool temperatures and rain.

I want to say I’m pleasantly surprised by how well the RECO system has held up and restored power through this storm. Thanks to all the workers getting out in the wind and rain to restore power and I think we are seeing the benefits of installing sturdier power poles over the last couple of years.