Tropical Storm Rafael Intensifies As It Approaches The Cayman Islands And Cuba – We’re Watching

Tropical Storm Rafael intensified this Tuesday and is expected to become a hurricane in the next few hours as it approaches the Cayman Islands and Cuba, the US National Hurricane Center reported. (NHC).

The NHC indicates in its latest issue that the center of Rafael is located about 170 kilometers east of Grand Cayman and 190 kilometers (120 miles) northwest of Montego Bay (Jamaica), in the Caribbean.

The system has maximum sustained winds of 110 kilometers per hour (70 mph) and meteorologists predict that it will continue to intensify over the next 24 hours, so it could become a hurricane as it passes near the Cayman Islands and before it makes landfall in Cuba.

Hurricane warnings are in place for the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean and several areas in Cuba.

The meteorological center, based in Miami (Florida), indicates that the system is moving quickly to the northwest with a speed of translation of 20 kilometers per hour.

According to a possible track pattern, Rafael will move this afternoon and evening near the Cayman Islands to be located near western Cuba on Wednesday.

Then, Rafael will head to the southeastern end of the Gulf of Mexico.

Rafael will cause storm surge of up to 3 feet (about a meter) above mean sea level in parts of the Cayman Islands and up to about 2.5 meters along the southern coast of Cuba, including the island the Youth.

The NHC also warns of heavy rain that the storm will bring to areas of the western Caribbean until early Thursday, especially in Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and western Cuba.

According to the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Atlantic hurricane season, which officially began on June 1 and ends on November 30, will have “above” average activity, with between 8 and 13 hurricanes, and those between 4 and 7 would be the main category.

Since the start of this year’s season, ten hurricanes have formed: Beryl, Debby, Ernesto, Francine, Helene, Isaac, Kirk, Lesley, Milton and Óscar, and Beryl and Milton reached category 5, the highest level on the Saffir scale. Simpson.