So far we have been quite lucky, in fact some even say the Dominican Republic has some special protection from God, for although we are on alert and in the path of hurricanes every year, we have only been hit by two major ones in the past 34 years. However, that does not mean we stop watching out and being careful, for we have now entered the most active months of the season – August and September due to the very high temperatures – and one never knows what can happen in this tropical environment.
HURRICANE ACTIVITY COULD INCREASE DURING NEXT WEEKS
According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the conditions are perfect for the formation of storms and hurricanes, due to increased water temperature in the eastern Atlantic. And although this season only four tropical cyclones have developed, the peak stage of the hurricane season is about to start, which means that in the coming weeks, between August and September, several systems could form with chance of becoming a hurricane, or at least a tropical storm.
Now, this does not mean panic and go overboard, just be aware and prepared for any storm that could head our way. With any luck we will carry on getting our special protection and all should be fine, but as they say: better safe than sorry. We, as always, will keep you informed of any such phenomena heading our way.
Hurricane season 2013 – so far Thus far there have been 4 named storms; Tropical Storm Andrea, Tropical Storm Barry, Tropical Storm Chantal(who gave us all a bit of a fright by threatening to hit the Dominican Republic before suddenly changing direction) and Tropical Storm Dorian. According to the most recent predictions published by the the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) at the beginning of August, the 2013 hurricane season has a 70% chance of being “above normal”. A total of 13 – 19 named storms are predicted, to include 6 to 9 hurricanes (top winds of 74 mph or higher) of which 3 to 5 could be major hurricanes (Category 3, 4 or 5; winds of at least 111 mph).
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