The Dominican Republic’s national meteorological agency, the Instituto Nacional de Meteorología (INDOMET), has released a detailed two-day weather forecast outlining shifting atmospheric conditions across the country this weekend.
On Saturday, forecasters say persistent eastward trade winds will carry moist air across the region, spurring developing cloud cover that will trigger scattered rain showers across multiple eastern and central provinces. The areas expected to see the highest chance of precipitation include La Altagracia, La Romana, San Pedro de Macorís, Hato Mayor, Samaná, María Trinidad Sánchez, and the wider Santo Domingo metropolitan area.
Moving into Saturday afternoon, INDOMET notes that a combination of daily temperature cycles – which drive convection as land heats up – and lingering moisture from a weak upper-atmosphere trough will create favorable conditions for isolated local rain showers, with the potential for severe thunderstorm activity. This active weather is expected to persist from the afternoon through the early overnight hours, with the highest concentration impacting Monte Plata, Sánchez Ramírez, Elías Piña, and the northern border province of Dajabón. For all remaining regions of the Dominican Republic not mentioned, conditions will hold mostly sunny and unseasonably warm through the end of Saturday.
Looking ahead to Sunday, the approaching weather systems will bring increased precipitation across wider swathes of the country. A new tropical wave moving toward the island, paired with an upper-level trough, will boost atmospheric moisture and cloud formation across the nation. Scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected to develop, becoming most widespread during the afternoon hours and continuing through the first part of Sunday night. The regions facing the greatest frequency of storm activity include southeastern provinces, the Central Mountain Range, and the country’s entire border region with neighboring Haiti.