Idalia becomes hurricane category 1 on Saffir-Simpson scale

HAVANA, Cuba, Aug 29 (ACN) The Institute of Meteorology reported in its Tropical Cyclone Warning No.14 that during the early hours of this morning Idalia gained in organization and intensity while over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, becoming the third hurricane of the current hurricane season.

Idalia's feeding bands continue hitting the provinces from Pinar del Rio to Mayabeque(western Cuba), including the special municipality of Isle of Youth, with showers, rains and thunderstorms, which have been strong and intense in some localities.

Idalia maintains a northerly course and has increased its speed to 22 kilometers per hour. Its maximum sustained winds increased to 120 kilometers per hour, with higher gusts, making it a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale of a maximum of five.

At 6:00 a.m., its center was estimated at 23.3 degrees north latitude and 85.0 degrees west longitude, 155 kilometers north of Cape San Antonio in the province of Pinar del Rio and 350 kilometers west-southwest of Key West on the Florida Peninsula.

In the next 12 to 24 hours Idalia will continue on a similar course, inclining its trajectory to the north-northeast with an increase in its speed of translation and could become a hurricane of great intensity before making landfall in the north of Florida, although Idalia continues to move away from Cuba, the probability of rains will remain high in the western region, which could be strong and intense, mainly in some localities of the provinces of Pinar del Río and Artemisa.

The feeding bands of this tropical organism may cause rains in the central region.