Frontal trough causes rain and maintains weather alerts in several provinces of the country

Santo Domingo, DR. – The Dominican Republic's Meteorology Institute reported this Friday that a frontal trough continues to affect the national territory, generating rains of different intensities, electrical storms, and wind gusts in multiple provinces, while alert and meteorological warning levels are maintained due to the risk of urban flooding. According to the bulletin issued at 6:00 PM and valid until Sunday, March 22nd, rainfall has primarily affected locations such as Monte Cristi, Dajabón, Santiago Rodríguez, Puerto Plata, Valverde, Espaillat, Santiago, La Vega, Monseñor Nouel, Duarte, María Trinidad Sánchez, Sánchez Ramírez, San Cristóbal, San José de Ocoa, Pedernales, Santo Domingo, San Juan, Elías Piña, La Altagracia, and Hato Mayor, among others. The meteorological authorities indicated that these rains will begin to gradually decrease in the evening, although conditions of instability will persist in a large part of the country.

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Current Alerts and Warnings

The National Forecast Center maintains two provinces under weather alert and four under warning, due to the risk of urban flooding:

• On alert: Puerto Plata and Elías Piña
• On warning: Monte Cristi, Dajabón, Valverde and Santiago Rodríguez

Faced with this situation, INDOMET urged the population to remain attentive to official bulletins and avoid crossing rivers, streams, and ravines with high water volume.

Weekend Forecast

For this Saturday, the front system will continue moving across the country, causing cloudiness with showers in the morning hours in provinces of the north and northeast. In the afternoon, moderate to heavy downpours with electrical storms and wind gusts are expected, especially in San Cristóbal, Santo Domingo, Monte Plata, Hato Mayor, El Seibo, María Trinidad Sánchez and Duarte. Meanwhile, for Sunday, the remnants of the front system, in combination with the northeast wind, will generate more isolated and less intense rains, mainly in mountainous areas of the southwest and the Central Mountain Range.

Maritime conditions and temperatures

On the Atlantic coast, from Cabo Engaño to Cabo Cabrón, operators of small, fragile, and medium-sized vessels are advised to navigate with caution near the coastal perimeter, due to abnormal wind and waves. Temperatures will remain pleasant during the night and early morning, especially in mountainous areas and inland valleys, where fogs or mists could be recorded. The minimums will range between 20 °C and 22 °C, while the maximums will be between 29 °C and 31 °C.

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Conditions in Greater Santo Domingo

For Greater Santo Domingo, slight cloud cover increases are expected with occasional rain and wind gusts during this Friday and Saturday. However, a mostly sunny sky with isolated cloudiness is expected on Sunday.

Beginning of Spring

The agency also highlighted that this March 21st marks the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere, a season characterized by the balance between day and night, and which will progressively bring a longer duration of sunlight.

Recommendations to the population

The authorities reiterate the call to the citizenry to:

• Follow the official reports from the Dominican Republic's Meteorology Institute.
• Avoid areas vulnerable to flooding.
• Take precautions against possible wind gusts and electrical discharges.

The agency will continue to monitor the evolution of this atmospheric system and provide timely updates to the population.