The Cuban National Civil Defense General Staff established the information phase for the provinces from Pinar del Río to Ciego de Ávila and the Isla de la Juventud Special Municipality, in the face of the threat of Eta, which could gain strength over the western Caribbean Sea.
During Thursday night, the center of circulation of Tropical Depression Eta went out to sea through the Gulf of Honduras, and an increase in its cloud pattern has recently been seen in satellite images and it remains very widespread, from the Pacific Ocean to most of the western Caribbean Sea, according to a tropical cyclone advisory from the island’s Institute of Meteorology (INSMET).
The source indicates that Eta is moving over warm waters, which will allow it to gain in organization and intensity, although it remains limited by strong winds in the upper levels of the troposphere.
https://t.co/qcE8uy07BT pic.twitter.com/Y9fmwyODOx
— NOAA Satellites – Public Affairs (@NOAASatellitePA) November 6, 2020
The tropical organism has sustained winds of 55 kilometers per hour, with higher gusts and its central pressure has dropped slightly to 1004 hectoPascal. It is currently moving with a course close to the north at a rate of 13 kilometers per hour, according to the notice from the INSMET Forecast Center.
The center of Eta was estimated at 6:00 a.m. at 17.5 degrees North latitude and 87.4 degrees West longitude, a position that placed it 660 kilometers west-southwest of Grand Cayman and 680 kilometers southwest of Punta del Este, Isla de la Juventud.
Forecasts foresee that in the next 12 to 24 hours it will incline its course towards the northeast and could become a tropical storm again in the morning.
The Cuban Civil Defense warns that so far what’s most significant is the extensive area of clouds and rains associated with this cyclonic organism that will affect the national territory, taking into account the level of saturation of the soils and the filling of reservoirs throughout the country.
It indicated that the provinces of Camagüey and eastern Cuba should be attentive to the information issued on the development of this system.
Likewise, it guides the population to be attentive to the information from the Institute of Meteorology and Civil Defense, and to comply with discipline with the measures indicated by the local authorities.
Here are the 9am CST Key Messages for Tropical Depression #Eta, which is forecast to regain tropical storm intensity later today.
Tropical Storm Warnings are in effect for the Cayman Islands & Tropical Storm Watches are in effect for western and central Cuba. pic.twitter.com/kGqCZ24D2B
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) November 6, 2020
The effects of Eta, which entered Nicaragua on Tuesday as a powerful hurricane and then passed through Honduras as a storm, have been felt in practically all of Central America, a region very vulnerable to natural disasters and in which it has already left deaths and material damage still being counted.
It is the 29th named storm in this active cyclonic season in the Atlantic basin. Of those storms, 12 have become hurricanes, including Eta.
