Tropical wave could hit Cuba as a cyclone

SAN LUIS POTOSÍ, Mexico.- The National Hurricane Center (NHC) The United States warned this Thursday of a tropical wave well-defined that could reach Cuba as a tropical depression.

The phenomenon is producing a wide area of showers and thunderstorms are expected over Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, the southeastern Bahamas, and the adjacent waters of the southwestern Atlantic and northeastern Caribbean Sea. The wave may develop slowly while moving west-northwestward over portions of the Greater Antilles.

The NHC expects that environmental conditions will become more conducive to the storm’s organization after it crosses the Greater Antilles.

A tropical depression could form near the Gulf of Mexico or Florida this weekend or early next week.

Within 48 hours it has a low probability (30 percent) of formation and a high probability (70 percent) within the next seven days.

Meteorologist Hendry Delgado Manzor said that there will be an increase in cloudy areas with showers, rain and thunderstorms that could become strong and intense in some localities, starting this Friday in the eastern and central regions of Cuba.

The rains will extend from Saturday 3rd to Sunday 4th to the western region, due to the active tropical wave located over the Dominican Republic.

The specialist urged people to be alert to strong gusts of wind and even severe local storms, as well as to flooding that could occur in low-lying and poorly drained areas.

“This system will move between the west and west-northwest over eastern Cuba tomorrow, Friday the 2nd, and over the center and west of the country on Saturday the 3rd. This low will enter the Straits of Florida from Saturday afternoon and later into the southeast of the Gulf of Mexico, where it could find favorable conditions for tropical cyclone development and become a Tropical Depression or Tropical Storm,” he wrote.