Barbados monitors Hurricane Irma

Nation News – THE BARBADOS Meteorological Services is monitoring the progress of Hurricane Irma, but it does not pose a threat to the island at this time.

Acting director Sonia Nurse told NATION NEWS Hurricane Irma was still a long while away and although the models were diverging, “they do not bring the centre anywhere over Barbados”.

“We are 13N, 59W so it would still be to our north east so we will continue to monitor the system. By tomorrow we will have a better idea of where the system is likely to go, but even then it would still be a long way from us,” she said.

At 11 a.m., Irma was located near latitude 16.9 North, longitude 33.8 West, moving west-northwest at 10 miles per hour.

Maximum sustained winds have increased to nearly 100 mph or 155 km/h with higher gusts. The system is forecast to become a major hurricane by tonight and is “expected to be an extremely dangerous hurricane for the next several days”, says the National Hurricane Centre