Cuba Advisory On Tropical Storm Ida

By Circles Robinson

HAVANA TIMES, Nov. 7 – Tropical Storm Ida should cross the Yucatan Channel on Sunday morning, noted the Cuban Meteorological Institute (INSMET) in an advisory released Saturday at noon EST.

The Institute warned that rains in western Cuba, which include the provinces of Pinar del Rio, Havana City, Havana Province and Matanzas, could receive between 2.5 and 7.5 inches of rain in the next 24 hours with some points up to 12.5 inches, especially in Pinar del Rio and the Isle of Youth.

INSMET said there will also be heavy sea swells on the North coast of western and central Cuba as well as the south coast of the western provinces.

At noon the eye of the storm was located at 260 miles (420 kms.) south of Cape San Antonio, Cuba’s farthest western point, and 250 miles southeast of Cozumel, Mexico.

Ida is now packing 60 mph (95 kph) winds and its central pressure has dropped to 997 millibars.  It is now moving at 10 mph (15 kph).

The Cuban weather experts said the storm should continue to gain slightly in organization and intensity as it churns north in the western Caribbean Sea.