Tropical Storm Rafael intensified this Tuesday until become a category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, as it approaches the Cayman Islands and Cubaaccording to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).
Rafael has maximum sustained winds of 120 kilometers per hour, and is located about 35 kilometers southeast of Grand Cayman and 495 kilometers south-southeast of Havana (Cuba), according to an update from the NHC.
The system has motivated several hurricane warnings for the Caribbean Cayman Islands and several provinces in western Cuba.
The meteorological center, based in Miami (Florida), points out thate the system is moving rapidly towards the northwest with a travel speed of 24 kilometers per hour.
According to a probable trajectory pattern, Rafael will move near the Cayman Islands tonight to be near western Cuba on Wednesday.
Next, Rafael will head toward the southeastern Gulf of Mexico.
Rafael will cause a storm surge of up to 3 feet (about one meter) above usual sea level in parts of the Cayman Islands and up to about 2.5 meters along the southern coast of Cuba, including the Isla de la Juventud.
The NHC also warns of the heavy rain that will bring the storm to areas of the western Caribbean until early Thursday, particularly 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 an activity “above” the average, with between 8 and 13 hurricanes, of which between 4 and 7 would be of a major category.
Since this year’s season began, ten hurricanes have formed: Beryl, Debby, Ernesto, Francine, Helene, Isaac, Kirk, Lesley, Milton and Óscar, of which Beryl and Milton reached category 5, the maximum on the scale. Saffir-Simpson intensity.