August, the third most dangerous month for tropical cyclones

The cyclonic season in the geographic area of the tropical Atlantic Ocean, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, extends from June to November and in the eighth month begins its most active period of disasters, when tropical cyclones and other hazards of natural, technological and sanitary origin are expected.

A phenomenon of this type increases during the second half of August which, along with the first half of September, constitutes the beginning of the most dangerous stage of such a semester of exceptional humidity, although in the case of Cuba it is the only way to fill its large reservoirs.

So much so that in September 2002 and August 2004 a total of eight occurred, which constituted the monthly record for the most cyclones that receive their name when they exceed the tropical storm phase, according to historians of the sector.

However, in Cuba, August is the third most dangerous month for tropical cyclones, after October and September, when they are usually accompanied by an extensive area of clouds with showers, rains, thunderstorms and even tornadoes.

A list of the most significant hurricanes that hit the country in the course of this century includes Charley in 2004, whose center penetrated the mainland along the southern coast of the then province of Havana in the early morning of the 13th, with category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson scale and maximum sustained winds of 180 kilometers per hour and gusts of over 200 km/h.

In addition, in 2008, Gustav, category 4, on August 30, 2008, crossed the western portion of the Isle of Youth and then touched the land of Pinar del Rio at a point on the southern coast of the municipality of Los Palacios. It caused considerable material damage in both territories.

At the time, the Paso Real meteorological station in San Diego registered an impressive gust of 340 kilometers per hour, the highest wind speed officially measured in the archipelago.

Other extremely strong storms included Camille in 1969, Allen in 1980, Andrew in 1992 (which devastated areas of southern Florida), and Katrina in 2005, which caused a major disaster in the U.S. city of New Orleans.

Only during this month between 1791 and 2022, 19 hurricanes hit the Cuban archipelago, which is equivalent to 16% of those that hit the country in 231 years, argued professor Luis Enrique Ramos Guadalupe, coordinator of the History Commission of the Meteorological Society of Cuba.

He mentioned the fact that the last one to hit the country in August received the name of Ida, which in 2021 caused moderate damage in the special municipality Isle of Youth and in the province of Pinar del Rio.

The reiteration of the danger of the cyclonic season in August, despite the fact that this year's season is normal to not very active, leads to the greatest possible preparation, a kind of cultural vocation practiced since 1986 by the National Civil Defense General Staff and its system of popular exercises aimed at risk reduction.