Urgent – Marine Weather Message
Small Craft Advisory
Antigua and Barbuda Meteorological Services
11:00 pm Tuesday 14 February 2023

…Small Craft Advisory goes into effect Wednesday night for Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands…

Locations to be affected: Mainly open waters on the Atlantic sides of the islands out to 20 nautical miles.

Timing: Wednesday night until Saturday.

Synopsis: A combination of wind waves and wind swells is expected to cause hazardous seas. The threat level to the life, livelihood, property and infrastructure of mariners is forecast to rise to moderate with the potential for significant impacts.

A small craft advisory means that wind speeds of 21 to 33 knots and or wind waves and or wind swells of 7 feet or greater are occurring or imminent.

Winds over open waters: East-northeast at 26 to 41 km/h (14 to 20 knots; 16 to 23 mph), with strong gusts to as high as 57 km/h (31 knots; 36 mph).

Winds over the period Thursday night to Saturday morning are likely to be 30 to 45 km/h (16 to 24 knots; 18 to 28 mph) with gust to near 68 km/h (37 knots; 42 mph), a High Wind Advisory is also likely.

Seas (significant wave heights): 1.8 to 3.0 metres (6 to 10 feet), occasionally or locally reaching near 4.0 metres (13 feet).

Wind waves and or wind swells: 1.5 to 2.1 metres or 5 to 7 feet and occasionally higher. The dominant wind wave period is 6 to 9 seconds.

The highest seas will be Thursday night through Saturday morning.

Potential Impacts: Loss of life at sea; injuries to mariners; capsize or damage or loss of vessels and marine equipment; financial losses; disruption of fisheries and scarcity of fish products and disruption to marine transportation.

Caution: Inexperienced mariners, especially those operating smaller vessels should avoid navigating in these conditions.

Please continue to monitor these hazardous, life-threatening marine conditions. Stay tuned to updates coming out of the Met Office via antiguamet.com, facebook.com/abmetservice and twitter.com/abmetservice. Also, stay tuned to other media platforms for updates.

Forecaster: Dale Destin