The coasts of Venezuela and Colombia will feel this Friday the rains and winds of tropical depression Thirteen, which will gradually strengthen until it becomes a hurricane over the weekend when it approaches the Colombian archipelago of San Andrés and the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. .
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) has already issued a hurricane watch for San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina (Colombia) and a tropical storm watch is also in force for the Colombian coast from Riohacha to east to the border with Venezuela.
Thirteen was located this morning 30 miles (45 km) southeast of the northern tip of the Guajira peninsula, in Colombia, and about 645 miles (1,035 km) east of the Colombian island of Providencia.
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According to the NHC, the depression is moving west near 15 mph (24 km/h) and a generally westward motion is expected to continue through Sunday.
The trajectory forecast indicates that Trece will move today near the coast of northwestern Venezuela and the Guajira peninsula of Colombia, then cross the southwestern Caribbean Sea and on Saturday night, with hurricane-category winds, it will pass near San Andres and Providence.
At the end of 2020, that archipelago near the coast of Nicaragua and especially Providencia Island was devastated by the category 5 hurricane Iota.
On Sunday the hurricane formed from Thirteen will approach the coast of Nicaragua.
Maximum sustained winds are near 35 mph (55 km/h), but will gradually strengthen throughout the day, and Trece is expected to become a tropical storm named Julia later Friday.
After that, it is likely to rapidly strengthen into a hurricane as it approaches the San Andres and Providencia Islands and the east coast of Nicaragua.
According to the NHC, hurricane conditions are possible on the Colombian islands of San Andres, Providencia and Santa Catalina from Saturday night through early Sunday, with tropical storm conditions possible by Saturday afternoon.
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Tropical storm conditions are expected along the Colombian coast today within the warning zone this morning.
Tropical storm force gusts are possible in Aruba and across portions of the northwestern coast of Venezuela during the next several hours.
The depression will produce rain until early Monday throughout the warning area and flash flooding is possible, as well as a risk of landslides in parts of Central America.
The NHC also warned of a possible storm surge, which could raise sea levels by one to three feet (up to one meter) in coastal areas of San Andrés, Providencia and the Santa Catalina Islands.
Near the coast, the storm surge will be accompanied by large and destructive waves.
The swells generated by the cyclone are affecting the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao) and sectors of the coasts of northwestern Venezuela and the Guajira Peninsula of Colombia.
The swell will spread westward reaching Jamaica late tonight, Providencia and the San Andres Islands on Saturday, and portions of the Central American coast on Saturday night and Sunday.
