The weather system that had the potential of doing damage across Trinidad and Tobago, has now developed into a life threatening tropical storm forecast to make landfall in the Central American country of Nicaragua tonight.
According to the National Hurricane Center in the United States, Tropical Storm Bonnie formed this morning over the western Caribbean Sea with a Hurricane Hunter aircraft finding a well-defined circulation center located about 100 nautical miles east of the Nicaragua coast.
The storm is expected to make landfall late tonight near the Nicaragua and Costa Rica border.
After traversing Central America, Bonnie is expected to emerge over the eastern Pacific waters on Saturday, and it is forecast to turn west-northwestward shortly thereafter and track parallel to the coast of Central America and Mexico for the next several days.
Given the expected proximity to land, interests in coastal El Salvador, Guatemala and southwestern Mexico should continue to monitor Bonnie's progress during the next several days.
According to the national Hurricane Center, heavy rainfall is likely across portions of Nicaragua and Costa Rica today into Saturday, and areas of life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides are expected.
Tropical storm conditions are expected on San Andres during the next few hours, along the Caribbean coasts of Costa Rica and Nicaragua within the Tropical Storm Warning areas later this evening, and along the Pacific coasts of Costa Rica and Nicaragua overnight and early Saturday.
