Weather

Hurricanes

The hurricane season begins June 1 and concludes November 31. According to the Oficina Nacional de Meteorología, the critical period for the possibility of the impact of a natural disaster in the country is between August 15 and September 15.

Hundred year records indicate that the country has suffered the impact of at least 20 hurricanes during this period, of which five have been the most disastrous in terms of the damage sustained throughout national territory. The list includes the Cyclones Lilis (1894), San Zenón (1930), Inés (1966), David (1979) and Hurricane George (1998).

After a calmer cycle of 23 years, according to researchers, cyclonic activity shifted in 1995 to a hyperactive period that could last two or three decades.

Approximately 80 tropical cyclones develop per year around the globe and from half to two-thirds of these reach hurricane force (sustained maximum winds of more than 118 Kph).

Tropical storms reach a median velocity of 20 Kph toward the west and west-northwest, until the curvature where they turn toward the northwest to cross the North Atlantic at a median velocity of more than 20 Kph. Others, in their movement toward the west, stay in the Gulf of Mexico or the United States, while still others can cross the Central American isthmus and reach the waters of the Eastern Pacific, where a new name is assigned to them according to a pre-established list for cyclones or typhoons, as they are called in some regions of the Pacific.

The names of cyclones

Cyclones are given female and male names, in alphabetical order, alternating by season and year. If a season begins with a feminine name, the next will begin with a masculine. In addition, six name lists in the three official languages of the region (Spanish, English and French), 21 names in each, have been collected, as the most active season to this point was in 1933, with 21 named tropical cyclones. This means that the names used in the 1999 season are reused, for example, in 2005.

This table lists the names of the tropical storms for the following years:

Scale of potential disaster from a hurricane

The Saffir-Simpson potential disaster scale classifies hurricanes in five categories according to the sustained surface velocity of their winds and the above-normal swells produced. It is aimed at understanding the probable damage that a hurricane would generate if it hit a coastal area without a change in its destructive power.

Hurricanes are designated “intense” from Category 3 and above.