We had a rainy July. Or at least it feels that way. The 6.59 inches from Sandy Bay we are putting in the record book is only about an inch above normal. Six and a half inches was about average across the island, though some locations including Guanaja got nearly 10. Strangely, the only working station on Utila only recorded 2.38 inches. That sounds low and makes me suspect some sort of malfunction, but you guys on Utila let me know what you think in comments.
Looking ahead to August, on average we start getting a bit drier at 4.4 inches on average. As far as the initial forecast goes, it looks like the first two weeks will be similar to July, so it is possible that we will be above normal again. August is also the first month we really start worrying about the tropics on the Bay Islands (Beryl was a very early storm to come close to us).
I did a video Tropical Update. There is an area in the Atlantic northeast of French Guyana that we should keep an eye on. If it develops, next Friday and Saturday would be days to watch out for.
Good morning Bay Islands. Our photo of the day comes from Jeffrey Hill who, ironically, lives up the hill from me in Jonesville Point. This was a waterspout yesterday morning that was the first waterspout I had actually seen in my five and a half years in Roatan. We have some showers around this morning. The dry conditions we’ve been expecting are coming, they are just coming later than we thought. Tonight through tomorrow and most of Monday should be dry and, at least for the evening and tomorrow, fairly calm.
This morning you probably heard some thunder, especially on the west side. The strongest storms are moving south away from the island at 7:30 a.m., but a few stubborn clouds are hanging on. We will keep a chance of showers through the morning hours, but we should have a very low chance of rain this afternoon and evening and near zero chances tonight and tomorrow. Chance of rain Monday is around 20 percent and 30 percent Tuesday and Wednesday. Rain chances look better for Thursday into next Saturday.
Here are rain totals since midnight. Those storms kind of danced around West Bay and West End, giving them minimal rain.
Wind and Galaxy Wave forecast: We wake up to 10-15 mph WEST winds. That’s the first time I’ve said that in a long time. Those winds are giving us 2 foot seas north and west sides. This afternoon through tomorrow those winds should calm down and I’m still looking for near flat calm conditions the rest of the weekend. Winds will get back to 15 mph from the east/southeast on Monday and seas 2-3 feet, but next week winds and seas look very moderate to calm some days.
If you are a cruiser planning your excursion, the seas will be awesome, any showers should be brief and Jolly Roger Roatan will give you the best time possible and get you back on ship on time.
Low tide is 2:20 p.m. and we are getting close to new moon phase. Have a great weekend!
Good morning Bay Islands. Our photo of the day today comes from Martin Fickinger, an actual professional photographer with VickiVision. He does weddings and all sorts of special events. This photo catches a nice storm just off the coast of Sandy Bay. We won’t have many storms to worry about this weekend.
On satellite at 6:30 a.m. we see a few popcorn clouds, especially to the southeast of Oakridge. It is possible some of us will see a small shower this morning, but it won’t amount to much. Otherwise we should be partly cloudy. Through the weekend rain chances will be fairly low. Today we will have a 30 percent chance of seeing a shower, tonight there will be a 40 percent chance of a thundershower. Over the weekend, rain chances will be 20 percent each day.
Wind and Galaxy Wave forecast: A big story this weekend will be calm winds and seas. We wake up to winds 0-5 mph and seas around 2 feet. Winds will be light and variable all weekend and seas mostly around 1 foot. For weeks I’ve been saying all the winds have been from the east, but what little wind we get this weekend will often be from the north or west, so when we get 1-2 foot seas, that will also be on the north side. But all in all a great weekend for boating, diving and snorkeling.
Congratulations to the winner of the July Photo of the Month contest, Audrey Imfeld, who wins a roundtrip ticket to Guanaja on Galaxy Wave. This will be a great weekend to take the ferry with calm seas around the island.
Don’t forget to send your photos to bookmybio@gmail.com so they come in with high resolution. Include name of photographer and location. Winner get a free dental cleaning at Dilbert-Thompson Dental Clinic in French Harbour.
Good morning Bay Islands and welcome to August. A little later this morning I will post the photo contest for the winner of a Galaxy Wave trip to Guanaja. John Belcher sends us a photo of sunset at West End which will be our first contestant in August and we are proud to announce that the winner this month will get a free dental cleaning at Dilbert Thompson Dental in French Harbour. We had quite a storm last night that gave most of us 1.5 inches of rain a couple of stations in Sandy Bay and West Bay picked up 2 inches. There are decent chances of rain again today and then a bit drier and calm for the weekend.
On satellite this morning we have lots of clouds around. The radar isn’t showing anything heavy, but there still may be a light shower or two in these clouds. We will keep scattered showers around today and tonight into tomorrow morning. From midday Friday through most of Sunday chances of rain look very low, around 20 percent and we should see more sun (and heat) that we’ve been seeing. Starting Sunday evening into the first of next week rain chances go up to similar to what we’ve seen this week.
Wind and Galaxy Wave forecast: We start the day with 15 mph east winds and seas 2-3 feet southside. Toward midday we should calm to 10 mph and 2 feet. Friday through Sunday we will have quite calm conditions, with east winds 3-7 mph and seas 0-1 foot. With all that calmness and all that sun, it will feel pretty hot.
It looks like the GFS was right about where the storm in the Atlantic was heading. It is right now over Dominican Republic and seems to be heading for Florida’s west coast and panhandle. The biggest worry here seems to be flooding since it is expected to stall near the Big Bend of Florida.
I’m very proud to have Dilbert-Thompson Dental sponsoring our contest this month with a free cleaning as the prize. Send your photos to bookmybio@gmail.com with name of photographer and location.
Low tide is 1:20 p.m. and it will be quite low. If you want to vote in the contest for July Photo of the Month, go here. The winner receives a roundtrip ticket to Guanaja on Galaxy Wave.
Good morning Bay Islands. Our photo of the day comes from Tricia Power in Sandy Bay. We can call this a more youthful version of On Golden Pond. It is our last entry in the contest for a free round-trip ticket on Galaxy Wave to Guanaja. The vote is tomorrow. We have a few showers around, but we are looking forward to a gorgeous weekend.
This is the rain since yesterday and most of the rain on the west side came yesterday morning. On the east side, most of our rain came yesterday from noon into this morning, when many of us got some nice showers.
The showers around this morning are scattered popcorn showers. We will keep a chance of rain throughout the day, though I think we will have less rain than yesterday. Any showers should be brief. The same applies to tomorrow. Friday into the weekend looks much drier, with maybe a 10-20 percent chance of seeing a small shower each day.
Wind and Galaxy Wave forecast: We wake up to east winds 10-15 mph and seas 2-3 feet southside. This evening winds will pick up to 15-20 mph. Tomorrow winds will continue from the east 10-15 mph and seas 2-3 feet. Friday through Sunday we look for almost flat calm conditions with seas 0-1 foot. It will be a great weekend on the water.
The National Hurricane Center gives the disturbance nearing the Bahamas a 60 percent chance of development, but most models aren’t making much out of this. The one that is really strong on it is the GFS and it has it swinging around to the west side of Florida and strengthening.
I have made the decision not to make a Roatan Weather calendar for 2025. Part of this decision was to support Roatan Operation Animal Rescue, which is doing a calendar for the new year. That is a great way to support a worthy cause. Another way to support them is to get in touch with Mitch Cummins at Roatan Pets. Not only do you get healthy, locally sourced food for your dog, but 10 percent of what you spend goes to ROAR to help out the needy pets of Roatan.
Good morning Bay Islands. Our photo of the day comes from Audrey Imfeld in Sandy Bay and shows great reflections at sunset. Sandy Bay is my favorite beach on the island. Only drawback is they let people drive on it. We’re looking at the possibility of afternoon showers.
Here’s the rainfall totals since midnight for the west side and Utila. I didn’t include the east side and Guanaja because we got nothing.
The little dots of white I like to call popcorn clouds brought the rain this morning. We will keep a chance of rain through the morning, though they should decrease toward midday. The Euro want to give us a round of rain between 3 and 6 p.m. I’m usually suspicious of rain forecasts in the afternoon during summer, but keep your eye out. We will continue to have rain chances, especially overnight and in the morning Tuesday and Wednesday but as we get toward the weekend, things look drier.
Wind and Galaxy Wave forecast: We wake up to 15 mph east winds and seas 2-3 feet south side. We will stay right around those numbers today and tomorrow. Thursday looks a bit calmer, but we are still looking at dead calm conditions Friday through Sunday. With lower rain chances, Friday through Sunday look like perfect days to go out boating, fishing or snorkeling.
Just a quick mention about the potential tropical storm for The Bahamas. The storms look very weak right not and might not survive. I’ll be a little surprised if The Bahamas see anything major out of this.
With perfect water conditions, this weekend will be a great time to take that shopping trip to La Ceiba and Galaxy Wave is still offering its special price of $25 each way. Head over to roatanferry.com or one of the authorized ticket agents to make your purchase.
Good morning Bay Islands. Our photo of the day comes from Nancy Sikora in Carib Bight and I never get tired of looking at hummingbirds, one of God’s most amazing creations. He said, “Let’s make a tiny bird and turn its motor up to 11.” We start off with clouds but no rain. We should see some sunshine by afternoon, but rain chances return overnights and mornings the rest of the week. If you would like to sponsor the photo contest for August, send me a message.
Part of the reason skies are so hazy is that we will be dealing with Saharan dust today and tomorrow. After that the dust should lessen and we will have bluer skies. We will be dry today, but starting tonight we will get back to 30 percent chances of overnight and morning showers for the rest of the week.
Wind and Galaxy Wave forecast: We start the day with 15-20 mph east winds after quite a breezy afternoon yesterday that brought us an east end power outage. Fortunately the week ahead looks less windy. Today we will have east winds around 20 mph, tomorrow and Wednesday around 15 mph, Thursday 10 mph and Friday into the weekend almost dead calm.
The chance of a tropical cyclone is up to 50 percent, but it is now centered on the Bahamas, well away from us.
Monday is a day lots of potential cruisers are checking the forecast for their excursion. Make sure you check out the offerings from Jolly Roger Roatan for 3.5 to 4 hours of fun with a buffet and open bar included.
Good morning Bay Islands. Our photo of the day come from Elena Gonzalez and shows a rainbow coming from the ghost ship at the bay shared with Galaxy Wave and Mahogany Bay. Our chances of seeing a rainbow the next two days will be pretty low, but they get better the rest of the week.
On our 7 a.m. satellite we can see a storm building well to the east of Guanaja, but I think it is far enough away that it is unlikely to hit us. We will keep a small chance of a shower through the morning, but after that we should be dry this afternoon and tomorrow. Starting Tuesday we will have chances of rain return, especially overnight and in the mornings, but we will also have plenty of sunshine through the period as well.
Wind and Galaxy Wave forecast: We’re waking up quite windy today, with east winds at 20 mph and seas 4-5 feet south side. Our winds and seas will stay around 20-25 mph and 4-5 feet, even getting up to 30 mph this evening. Tomorrow will be sightly calmer at 17-22 mph east winds and seas 2-3 feet. This will be a calming trend through the week, with 15 mph winds Tuesday through Thursday and almost flat calm Friday into the weekend.
The storms in the Atlantic now have a 40 percent chance of tropical development, but the forecast has it moving away from us, likely on the northside of Puerto Rico and Cuba. We’ll keep an eye on it.
Sunday is Lobster Day at Ikigai by Robby Molina and the best lobster deal on the island. If you are on the west side, it is very much worth the drive to French Harbour.
Good morning Bay Islands. Our photo of the day comes from Paul Turner and shows some island youngster having fun on a Sandy Bay dock. We will continue to have small chances of rain, mostly overnights and in the mornings and winds look like they will get calmer by the end of the week.
This morning on satellite we see a few popcorn clouds around but nothing major. We will have a small chance of a small morning shower but otherwise we will be partly cloudy. Our best chance of rain this weekend is probably tomorrow morning, with about a 40 percent chance of a shower. Monday looks pretty dry and Tuesday through the rest of the week we will have small chances of overnight and morning showers.
After having a couple of weeks with nothing to look at in the Atlantic, we have an area of showers with a 30 percent chance of becoming a tropical cyclone. Fortunately for us, if it develops it will likely do so near the Dominican Republic and Cuba. But we’ll keep an eye on it.
Wind and Galaxy Wave forecast: We wake up to 20 mph east winds and seas around 4 feet south side. We may calm a little midday to 15-20 mph and 3 feet, but tonight and tomorrow look windier, with east winds 20-25 mph and seas 3-4 feet south side. Starting Wednesday and definitely into the weekend, things look much calmer.
A group of us went last night to “Twisters” at the new Megacinema last night and I was impressed by the theater, the sound system and the comfy, roomy seats. Having lived in Oklahoma it was nice to hear the accurate town names, see familiar TV weather forecasters and even see accurate license plates. A lot of folks asked if the depiction of tornadoes was accurate. An EF-5 can definitely level a town, but of course the ability to drive around the base of a tornado was definitely exaggerated. The idea of being able to disperse a tornado with a few barrels of sludge is a complete fantasy. Also, multi-day tornado outbreaks are pretty rare. But all in all it was a fun ride. What is pretty accurate is that tornadoes in the central US have become something of a tourist attraction, which is a dangerous trend.
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