An atmospheric phenomenon associated with the powerful hurricane Isaias could be observed this Friday from the city of Matanzas, even though the center of the cyclone is hundreds of kilometers away from Cuba, in the Gulf of Mexico, as it moves toward the U.S. northern coast.
The aviation meteorologist Henry Delgado Manzor, a member of the Cuban Societies of Meteorology and Speleology, explained in a Facebook post that this refers to the so-called “cirrus focus” of the hurricane, which is comprised of high clouds extending great distances from the center of the system.
From the city of Matanzas, one can observe the 'cirrus burst' associated with the powerful hurricane Isaias, located in the Gulf of Mexico and whose high clouds reach the western part of Cuba,” stated Delgado Manzor.
Cirrus clouds are high, thin clouds that are generally composed of ice crystals. In the environment of an intense tropical cyclone, they can extend from the upper regions of the storm and move far away from its core, allowing them to be seen even from areas that are not directly affected by the center of the hurricane.
Delgado Manzor recalled that this phenomenon had already been studied in Cuba during the 19th century by the priest and meteorologist Benito Viñes, one of the pioneering figures in the study of tropical cyclones in the Caribbean.
According to his explanation, Viñes observed that the cirrus clouds rotated around the hurricanes and were pulled outward from the top of the large cloud mass that covered the center of the cyclone.
The tracking of the direction in which those clouds moved allowed meteorologists of the time to gain insights into the location of the hurricane's center and the path it was following, decades before the advent of weather satellites, radars, or hurricane-hunting planes.
What a great observer Father Viñes was, a wise man!, emphasized Delgado Manzor.
The observation from Matanzas occurs as Isaias passes through a particularly dangerous phase of its journey through the Gulf of Mexico.
The cyclone reached category 3 this Friday with maximum sustained winds of 195 km/h, as confirmed by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) of the United States.
Data from a hurricane-hunting aircraft of the U.S. Air Force Reserve confirmed the intensification as the system moved toward the northern Gulf coast.
The NHC expected Isaias to remain a dangerous hurricane as it approached land.
The agency also raised the possible flooding from storm surge to 2.7 meters in the stretch between the Alabama and Florida border and Grayton Beach, provided that the peak of the surge coincides with high tide.
In addition to the storm surge, the forecast includes heavy rainfall, flash flooding, and the risk of tornadoes in parts of northwest Florida, Alabama, and other areas near the cyclone's path.
The NHC forecasts that the center of Isaias will reach the hurricane warning area during the night this Friday or in the early hours of Saturday. Meanwhile, hundreds of kilometers away from the region expecting the most significant impacts, its highest clouds are already showing a visible sign over western Cuba.
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