Tropical Storm Michael Moves Near Western Cuba

Tropical Storm Michael moves near the western tip of Cuba. Graphic: National Hurricane Center

HAVANA TIMES – Tropical Storm Michael is slowly moving north through the Yucatan Channel bringing a tropical storm warning on Monday to Cuba’s far west, including Pinar del Rio, Artemisa and Mayabeque provinces and the Isle of Youth.

At 10 PM Cuba time on Sunday night, the storm, which graduated from a tropical depression earlier in the day, was packing 95 km winds and a minimum pressure of 997 millibars. Its movement speed was only 8 km/h.

Michael is expected to become a hurricane by Monday evening as it moves into the Gulf of Mexico, heading for a possible landing on the Florida Panhandle by sometime Wednesday.

According to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Michael is expected to produce heavy rainfall and flash flooding over portions of western Cuba and the northeastern Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico during the next couple of days.

Tropical storm conditions are expected tonight over portions of western Cuba and the northeastern Yucatan Peninsula, where tropical storm warnings are in effect.

Sea swells causing strong coastal flooding can be expected for the south coast of Pinar del Rio and Artemisa provinces and light to moderate in Mayabeque and the Isle of Youth, noted the Cuban weather service.