August, the most active period of the hurricane season
HAVANA, Aug 12. The eighth month of the year represents the most active period of the hurricane season, from June 1 to November 30 in the geographic areaof the North Atlantic, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, affirmed a Cuban expert.
During this month alone, 19 hurricanes impacted the Cuban archipelago between 1791 and 2022, which is equivalent to 16% of those that touched the country in 231 years, argued Professor Luis E. Ramos Guadalupe, Coordinator of the History Commission, of the Cuban Meteorological Society.
The typical trajectories of these hydrometeorological phenomena are characterized by their large peripheral beam to the North Atlantic anticyclone, which is of no interest to the national territory, he added in a comment to the Cuban News Agency.
More important are, he continued, its two main longitudinal axes: one that runs to the north and the other that moves through the south of the nation.
He clarified that the fact implies that in that month several hurricanes affected the country without its center directly crossing it in its orientation in a similar direction.
He mentioned that the last hurricane to hit Cuba in August was named Ida (SS-1), which in 2021 caused moderate damage in the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud and in the province of Pinar del Río.
He recalled that this month there is a notable increase in cyclogenesis in the Atlantic, a factor that must be taken into account because the low tropical cyclonic activity that characterizes July, as has occurred in 2023, induces social neglect of the maximum cyclonic danger that lurks between August and October.
As the most active period of the hurricane season begins, we have reasons to reiterate the call of the Civil Defense, from June 1 to November 30: be prepared and alert, said the Coordinator of the History Commission of the Cuban Meteorological Society.
The Forecast Center of the Institute of Meteorology predicts that this period will be normal to not very active in terms of tropical organisms when 11 tropical cyclones should form, five of which could reach the category of hurricane; seven will be developed in the Atlantic oceanic area, two in the Caribbean Sea and the same number in the Gulf of Mexico.
The danger of Cuba being hit by at least one hurricane-class tropical cyclone is also moderate, with a 35 percent chance, he said.
