INSIDER
With Rafael quickly spinning down over the Gulf of Mexico this weekend – its thunderstorm activity wiped clear by a slug of dry air and hostile wind shear – we’d hope the hurricane season would finally come to its senses and move into its traditional November hibernation, but the Caribbean has other plans.
Rafael strengthened into a major Category 3 hurricane with 115 mph winds shortly before striking the southern coast of western Cuba at 4:15 PM ET Wednesday near Playa Majana in Artemisa Province.
Rafael took advantage of a deep reservoir of warm water south of Cuba to rapidly intensify since yesterday and is expected to be a major (Category 3) hurricane before striking western Cuba later today.
Hurricane Rafael has pushed into the Gulf of Mexico after plowing across western Cuba as a Category 3 hurricane with winds so powerful it knocked out the entire country’s power grid.
Tropical Storm Rafael formed on Monday in the Caribbean – the 17th named storm of the busy 2024 Atlantic hurricane season – and is on track to impact the Cayman Islands on Tuesday and parts of western Cuba on Wednesday as a hurricane.
Tropical Storm Rafael has strengthened to near hurricane intensity as it barrels toward the Cayman Islands and Cuba, where it was forecast to hit as a full hurricane.
On Sunday, the National Hurricane Center initiated advisories on Potential Tropical Cyclone Eighteen, a tropical disturbance in the southwestern Caribbean forecast to develop into a named storm in the coming hours, possibly reaching hurricane status before impacting western Cuba by Wednesday.
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