The experts predicted a busy season and so far they have been right.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted 14 to 23 named storms, with eight to 14 becoming hurricanes, meaning they have top winds of 74 mph or higher. The season began June 1st and ends November 30th. Hurricane Paula just missed us last week making that the 16th named storm so far! Grand Cayman has been very lucky so far and have not seen the damaging winds that these storms bring. Hurricane Paula passed a few hundred miles to our west north west and gave us pounding waves on the west side of the island. We were able to move Our Boat to the north and continue our diving.
We obviously watch the weather on an hourly basis looking for early sings of storm development but we always have our fingers crossed that none come our way 🙂
October has been a very strange month as far as the weather. So far we have had over 30 inches of rain which is almost the amount we get in one year! The air temp has still been warm and the water temp is a very pleasant 82 degrees but a little less rain would be great.
As we write this blog we are watching an area of disturbed weather that formed in the south west Caribbean and is moving slowly north. The latest advisory from the NHC (National Hurricane Center) is for this system to become more intense through out the afternoon. I personally expect this system to become a low or depression through out the night. This is the latest advisory:
OBSERVATIONS FROM AN AIR FORCE RESERVE UNIT RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT
INVESTIGATING THE AREA OF LOW PRESSURE…ABOUT MIDWAY BETWEEN
HONDURAS AND THE CAYMAN ISLANDS…INDICATE THAT A BROAD LOW-LEVEL
CIRCULATION HAS FORMED. CONDITIONS APPEAR CONDUCIVE FOR SOME
DEVELOPMENT…AND ANY INCREASE IN THE ORGANIZATION OF THE
ASSOCIATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS COULD LEAD TO THE FORMATION OF
A TROPICAL DEPRESSION. INTERESTS IN THE NORTHWEST CARIBBEAN SEA
SHOULD MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF THIS SYSTEM. THERE IS A HIGH
CHANCE…70 PERCENT…OF THIS SYSTEM BECOMING A TROPICAL CYCLONE
DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS AS IT MOVES TOWARD THE NORTH AT 5 TO 10
MPH.
Gary is a PADI Master Instructor and an RYA 200 ton Off Shore. Having worked all over the world as a dive instructor and boat captain. He has spent the last 20 year based in the Cayman Islands. Together with his wife Liz they have built the number one scuba diving operation in the Caribbean.