Cuban Meteorology Institute confirms record of tropical storms in 2020

HAVANA, Cuba, Jan 7 (ACN) The formation of nine tropical storms last September set a record for any month of a hurricane season in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, which usually extends from June to November.

Specialists from the Cuban Meteorology Institute's Climate Monitoring Center confirmed that the phenomenon was the result of the evolution of the La Niña-Southern Oscillation event, which is a large-scale cooling of the ocean surface temperature in the central and eastern parts of the equatorial Pacific.

However, other changes in the tropical atmospheric circulation, including winds, pressure and rainfall, had effects on the weather and climate contrary to those of El Niño, the warm phase of the so-called El Niño-Southern Oscillation.

The 2020 hurricane season in the Atlantic tropical ocean, which extends from the Gulf of Mexico to the Caribbean Sea, was very active, as demonstrated with 29 tropical cyclone events, storms and 13 hurricanes.

Among the latter, Laura and Eta (of great intensity) caused tropical storm winds, heavy rains and coastal flooding on their route through Cuba, and six tornadoes in May, due to active tropical waves.

At the same time, weather during last year contributed to further intensify the temperature increase tendency in Cuba, and compared to 2011 - 2020, it was the warmest of all the previous decades ever registered.