000 AGXX40 KNHC 240742 MIMATS Marine Weather Discussion NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL 242 AM EST SAT DEC 24 2016 Marine Weather Discussion for the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and Tropical North Atlantic from 07N to 19N between 55W and 64W and the Southwest North Atlantic including the Bahamas ...GULF OF MEXICO... MODEL PREFERENCE: Global model blend. High confidence. High pressure continues to build across the area. Latest satellite derived winds and seas along with ship...buoy...and CMAN data depict mainly moderate winds across the Gulf waters, except fresh northeast to east flow near and through the Straits of Florida. Seas are in the 3-5 ft range across the basin, except 2-3 ft in the northeast Gulf. High pressure will prevail across the forecast waters through the middle of next week. A thermally induced surface trough will develop early each evening over the Yucatan Peninsula. This trough will shift westward into the southwest Gulf of Mexico during the overnight hours each night where it will dissipate early each morning. Building high pressure over the southeast United States will tighten the pressure gradient and strengthen winds over the southeast Gulf the second half of the upcoming weekend into early next week. The area of high pressure will shift into the Atlantic waters Monday through Wednesday. This will loosen the pressure gradient and decrease winds over the southeast Gulf through mid- week. ...CARIBBEAN SEA AND TROPICAL N ATLANTIC FROM 07N TO 19N BETWEEN 55W AND 64W... MODEL PREFERENCE: Global model blend. High confidence. Latest satellite derived winds and seas along with ship...buoy... and CMAN data depict fresh to strong winds over the central Caribbean waters. Moderate to fresh winds prevails over the remainder of the Caribbean waters as well as the tropical north Atlantic waters. Seas are in the 6-9 ft range over the central Caribbean, 4-6 ft over the remainder of the Caribbean, and 8-10 ft over the tropical north Atlantic waters. High pressure will prevail north of the area through the next several days. This will tighten the pressure gradient over the forecast waters. The tightened pressure gradient will increase areal coverage of fresh to strong trades to cover much of the forecast waters Sunday night through the middle of next week. Winds near the northwest coast of Colombia will pulse to 30 kt during the overnight hours starting late tonight through the middle of next week. The northwest Caribbean will continue to experience slightly weaker winds, with moderate to fresh flow expected there through the middle of next week. With persistent fresh to strong trades over the Caribbean waters, seas will build to 10-12 ft over the central Caribbean by early next week. ...SW N ATLANTIC INCLUDING THE BAHAMAS... MODEL PREFERENCE: Global model blend. High confidence. A decaying cold front peaks into the area from 24N65W to 23N72W. High pressure is building in the wake of the front supporting increasing winds and seas. Latest satellite derived winds and seas along with ship... buoy...and CMAN data depict mainly fresh to locally strong northeast to east flow across the basin. Seas are in the 6-9 ft range outside the Bahamas, and 1-3 ft west of the Bahamas. The decaying cold front will continue to shift east of the area this morning. A progressive weather pattern will see the high pressure shifting eastward by the end of the weekend. A second area of high pressure will shift north of the area Monday then east of the area by Tuesday. The strongest winds over the area will coincide when the high pressure center is shifting just north of the area, which will be mainly Saturday and Monday. Wind will diminish during the periods when the high center shifts away from the area, on Sunday and Tuesday. Winds will diminish even more by Wednesday as the pressure gradient continues to weaken. $$ .WARNINGS...Any changes impacting coastal NWS offices will be coordinated through AWIPS II Collaboration Chat, or by telephone: .GULF OF MEXICO... None. .CARIBBEAN SEA AND TROPICAL N ATLANTIC FROM 07N TO 19N BETWEEN 55W AND 64W... None. .SW N ATLANTIC INCLUDING THE BAHAMAS... None. $$ *For detailed zone descriptions, please visit: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/abouttafbprod.shtml#OWF Note: gridded marine forecasts are available in the National Digital Forecast Database (NDFD) at: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/marine/grids.php For additional information, please visit: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/marine $$ .Forecaster Lewitsky. National Hurricane Center.