Although Costa Rica has not been affected yet by Hurricane Matthew and is expected to only receive an indirect effect, Costa Rica’s National Emergency Commission (CNE) declared green alert for the South Pacific and Caribbean, heavy rain is expected as of Saturday night and throughout the weekend specially in the counties of Corredores, Osa, Golfito, Coto Brus, Buenos Aires and Pérez Zeledón. If you are at the beach this weekend take precautions.

“It’s the strongest hurriacane in the Atlantic since Felix in 2007”, stated the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami

(EFE).- Hurricane Matthew strengthened on Friday to a Category 5  and poses a threat to Colombia, Cuba and Jamaica, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

The fifth hurricane of the 2016 Atlantic season, which has maximum sustained winds of 260 kph (160 mph), is located 120 kilometers (75 miles) north of Punta Gallinas, Colombia, and moving toward the west-southwest. EFE

The Colombian government has issued a tropical storm warning that extends from the Colombian-Venezuelan border to the city of Riohacha, meaning that tropical storm conditions are expected in that stretch of territory over the next 12 to 24 hours.

Cuba, meanwhile, is bracing for what Communist Party daily Granma described Friday as a “serious danger” to the island, whose eastern territory is expected to take a direct hit from the hurricane between Monday and Tuesday.

Meteorologists are projecting that Matthew will turn toward the west-northwest on Saturday night and then toward the northwest on Sunday morning.

Matthew is expected to pass north of the Guajira peninsula (which includes parts of northeastern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela) and remain over the central Caribbean Sea through early Sunday, the NHC said.

The hurricane is projected to bring as much as 10.1 centimeters (four inches) of rain to some areas of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao through Saturday. Torrential rains also are forecast for the part of Colombia in the hurricane warning area.

Swells generated by Matthew, meanwhile, are expected to affect the coasts of Puerto Rico, Hispaniola (the Dominican Republic and Haiti), Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao.

A total of 13 tropical storms have formed during this year’s Atlantic season, which officially began on June 1 and will end on Nov. 30, five of which (Alex, Earl, Gaston, Hermine and Matthew) have become hurricanes.

Those storms are blamed for 66 deaths, most of them in Mexico as a result of mudslides triggered by Hurricane Earl. EFE