Cuba's Institute of Meteorology reports formation of tropical storm Helene

HAVANA, Cuba, Sep 24 (ACN) Tropical Storm Helene, the eighth of the current season, formed today in the morning hours, the Cuban Institute of Meteorology (Insmet) reported.

According to Tropical Cyclone Warning No.1, in the last hours the low-pressure area located in the western Caribbean Sea, continued gaining in organization and developed a well-defined closed circulation.

The report refers that data from a reconnaissance plane this morning indicated maximum sustained winds of 75 kilometers per hour, with higher gusts.

At 11:00 a.m., the central region of the tropical storm was located at 19.5 degrees north latitude and 84.3 degrees west longitude, a position that places it about 275 kilometers south-southeast of Cape San Antonio, Cuba's westernmost tip.

Helene is moving northwest at 19 kilometers per hour and its minimum pressure is 1000 hectopascals.

Over the next 12 to 24 hours, it will continue moving through the western Caribbean Sea with a similar course and little change in its translation speed, gaining a little more organization and intensity, to cross the Yucatan Channel towards the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday morning as a hurricane.

With the approach of this system to the Yucatan Channel, rainfall will gradually increase in the western and central regions of Cuba, becoming heavy and intense in some locations.

Rainfall will persist overnight today and tomorrow, and may persist through Thursday.

Tropical storm force winds may begin to be felt in the Isle of Youth and Pinar del Rio from tonight, with speeds between 55 and 70 kilometers per hour, which may extend from the end of the morning and Wednesday morning to the province of Artemisa.

In the extreme west of Cuba, the wind force will increase from the early hours of tomorrow, and swells will occur on the south coast of the west and center, with the beginning of coastal flooding in low-lying areas of the southwest starting tonight.