This post is also available in: Spanish

Today Friday June the 1st marks the start of “Hurricane Season”, which despite what some people think does not mean that it will rain constantly for the next 6 months, rather that when it does rain will in general be a little more fuerte (strong) than at other times of the year and it is of course very important to keep informed on potential Hurricane developments. 

The Atlantic hurricane season lasts every year from June the 1st through to November the 30th, with the most ‘active’ months in the Dominican Republic typically being August, September and October, with September historically being the ‘peak’ month for hurricanes, tropical storms and depressions.

Fortunately for us living in the Dominican Republic, whilst we are invariably affected by hurricanes every year – only 11 hurricanes in the last 80 years have made landfall on the Dominican Republic. The last major hurricane to effect the Dominican Republic was Hurricane George (category 3) which made land fall on September the 22nd 1998 and before that there was Hurricane David (category 4) in 1979.

Remember that whilst “Hurricane Season” does not mean endless months of rainy days – there will be rain I’m afraid!
Click here for our “Top 10 things to do in Casa de Campo on a rainy day!”

This year “Hurricane Season” is predicted to be “less active” than usual – with 11 named storms of which 6 are expected to develop into hurricanes and 2 into major hurricanes (category 3 or higher), which is in general pretty good news and will hopefully mean less rain, but you never know…..click here to read more about the Hurricane Season 2012 forecast.

KEEP INFORMED!
Whilst we at Casa de Campo Living will do our best to keep you informed, we recommend the following for keeping extra-informed:

• www.nhc.noaa.gov – The National Hurricane Centre
• www.weather.com – The Weather Channel
• ONAMET.gov.do – the Dominican Republic’s official weather warning people (this one is in Spanish)
• Twitter: We recommend following NHC_Atlantic – for regular tweets on hurricanes, tropical storms etc

Photo Credit: NASA Goddard Photo and Video – Satellite Photo of Hurricane Earl on September the 1st 2010.