cowdog77:
Generally speaking, about how long does it take a storm from formation in the east until it reaches the Cuba/Yucatan channel??? (Best guesstimate.)
Answer: I dunno.
"
formation" in the "
east".... Wow.... that's pretty open ended.
You can watch satellite imagery of
Equatorial Africa and watch these storms being spit out like a repeating rifle. Then you watch them track
West across the Atlantic, all the time following
along the Equator (or 10 degrees North). here is where they gain intesity and may "form".
As the approach
South America, they generally get "
lifted" to the
North by a warm flow of air from that continent.This can really add energy and rotation. Here is where they really get
on our radar screen, both literaly and figuratively.
The
enter into the warm Caribbean Basin at some point just North of Venezuala or as far up as Cuba. (There are some rare deviations). Most Westbound entry tracks run through the Lesser Antilles.
Look at the historical data. The majority head towards Belize or Cozumel, some may hit, come close, or then suddenly veer to the right, clockwise, and head North to Texas, Louisiana or all the way to Florida or Cuba, attacking from the West, now.
They usually leave the ABC's and other lesser known rocks alone, including Los Roques, they also are pretty ineffectual to the rocks South of the Cape of Honduras (Corn Islands, San Andres, etc). The Bay Islands are rarely struck dead on, but almost always feel the pinwheels of rain clouds that spin-off as the normal tracks take them as close as 90 miles to the North.
The best way to understand is to start a daily watching of the satellite links above. Watch the bird that gives you the Equator view of Africa, the Atlantic, then the Caribbean. You'll see the pattern pretty quick.
From
http://stormcarib.com/ see the page
http://stormcarib.com/climatology/#links
http://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/hurrarchive.asp has
a year by year historical map of the tracks.
That says it all.
