Antigua and Barbuda and other Caribbean islands have been warned of amplified heat stress over the next three months. That warning from the Barbados-based Caribbean Climate Outlook Forum (CariCOF).

It said yesterday that the tropical Pacific and Atlantic Ocean temperatures should remain well above average, “steadily amplifying heat stress in the Caribbean by increasing temperatures, humidity, and heatwave frequency”

CariCOF said in its forecast for the July to September period “the coinciding unusually warm Pacific and Atlantic have opposing effects on Caribbean rainfall and hurricane season activity”.

CariCOF said in its latest Caribbean Climate Outlook Newsletter, “For now, the record-warm Atlantic appears to dominate, resulting in little concern for drought due to copious wet season rains. By contrast, the Guianas will potentially be excessively wet in July, with predominantly drier and hotter weather from mid-August”.

The potential of Flash floods and cascading hazards is expected to increase from moderate to high in August according to CariCOF, which also states that the rainfall totals from July to September are likely to be the usual or higher across several countries

They named Aruba, Bonnaire, and Curacao (ABC Islands), The Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, eastern parts of the Guianas, and the Leeward Islands as the country’s most likely to be impacted

Belize and Trinidad and Tobago on the other hand are likely to record the usual rainfall amounts at most.