Will Hurricane Irma Threaten Cuba?
HAVANA TIMES – Besides locals, a lot of people who are planning to travel to or from Cuba in the coming week are asking what affect Hurricane Irma might have on their plans. However with the storm still a good ways away in the Central Atlantic, it is too early to tell.
Irma, currently packing 115 mph (185 km/h) winds, is still around 72 hours away from the Leeward Islands, in the far eastern Caribbean.
At 5:00 a.m. (ET) on Sunday Irma was moving west-southwest at a forward speed of 15 mph (24 km/h). The National Hurricane Center (NHC) predicts that the storm will slow slightly through tonight and then tip towards the west on Monday.
The NHC, based in Miami, now sees the center of Irma moving just north of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic on next Thursday or Friday. There are still no coastal warnings in effect but different authorities are heads up, as can be seen in some local media.
The current forecast cone, which is still subject to considerable change, sees the outer bands of the storm reaching far eastern Guantanamo province in Cuba by the weekend. If and how it might affect the rest of the country is still too early to tell.
In the United States, just beginning a long road to recovery from Hurricane Harvey on the Gulf Coast, many eyes are on Irma, as the major storm may be headed for the Bahamas and then the US mainland or it could take a turn north-northeast and skirt the coastline.
At this point, the NHC notes that the hurricane force winds extend outward 25 miles (40 km) from the center and tropical storm force winds up to 80 miles (130 km) outward. The minimum central pressure is currently at 969 millibars.
Just as a matter of interest David, Kennedy Earle Carke (we ought to abbreviate that to KEC), is not an American. He just suffers a touch of confusion!
So far it looks like Irma will not hit Cuba besides some rainy days. Sill it is too early to say though.
Because the are other country in this world than the USA…. dammit you american are really self centered …
There are millions of great amazing people in Cuba and they deserve to be worried for as well as anybody else.
Open your eyes and your heart, the USA is not the center of the world.
Apparently Moses, Kennedy Earle Clarke regards concerns being expressed in Havana Times about potentual effects of Irma upon Cuba as some kind of hidden plot to divert attention away from the USA about which he has a self evident mental affliction.
Kennedy Earle Clarke poses a direrct question in saying:
“Why the emphasis upon Cuba..”
He ought to have also enquired why the emphasis is placed upon the relatively minor revolution in Cuba, when much more significant ones occurred in France, the USA and indeed England?
So you’re telling me that there’s no travel information on Slovina here….
All that time reading was wasted?
What an odd comment, even for you. This is a blog about Cuba. It only seems reasonable to expect therefore that the articles published on this blog would pertain to….wait for it….CUBA.
If you look on line for hurricane Irma it is nearly all about the USA. I know it has been hit hard but we have to look at all countries that could be affected not just the USA. Usa has also not got the best press and are very biased.
Actually, Editor.. Kennedy brings up a great point.
The headline of the story isn’t even discussed about in the article.
It’s like you plagiarized from several different news sources and put in a click-bait headline.
Well, good for you, amigo.
-TM
The name on the masthead is “Havana Times,” not New York Times.
Circles posts stories centered in and around Havana and Cuba.
His posting of the story about Irma was out of concern for the Cuban people, who might suffer first. I’m sure he’s just as concerned about Key West and Florida which are likely to suffer following that.
Latest model runs result in new “cone,” which indicates Irma moving south and west which would put eastern end and northern coast of Cuba under threat as the hurricane (possibly category 4) heads for Key West and South Florida.
Prepare now, mi amigos.
Kennedy, you are always focused on the United States but most readers and myself look to Havana Times for information and opinions about Cuba not the USA.
Why the Topic, Will Hurricane Irma Threaten Cuba? Why the emphasis on Cuba when the same hurricane is threatening the Eastern Parts of the USA after the horrendous attack of hurricane Harvey on TEXAS? Hurricane Irma is a threat to the LEEWARD Islands, to Puerto-Rico, Jamaica, the Bahamas and the Eastern Coast of the USA. You do not print in Havana, so why the explicit concern about the country? IS it hopeful joy that the hurricane strike the country on your part, hence the publication? You keep displaying your dislike for the country in your every publication. So many areas threatened by the storm yet, the emphasis is on Cuba. Perhaps this is a REAL DISPLAY of what is called, “FREEDOM OF THE PRESS to be BIASEDLY (my invention) ONE SIDED!