Written by Jeffrey Collins
They are the legendary hurricanes, the bowling balls that span the whole Atlantic Ocean, the threat to ancient ships, and the vast, curving lines on hurricane charts.
Usually originating from clusters of thunderstorms that migrate off the continent and into the Atlantic, Cape Verde storms are called for the collection of islands located approximately 450 miles off the west coast of Africa.
Cape Verde storms are among the most destructive that threaten North America because they are fueled by ocean water that is thousands of miles above the 80-degree Fahrenheit temperature required to produce hurricanes. The National Hurricane Center estimates that 85% of all big hurricanes that are classified as Category 3 or higher begin there.
Jeff Masters, a meteorologist for Yale Climate Connections, said, “They are the media stars and definitely get a lot of attention because you can track them for a long time.”
They pose an uncommon threat, though. Less than 10% of the storms make landfall in the United States. The north and east steering winds that typically predominate across the Atlantic either break the rest apart or bend them out to sea.
Cape Verde storms are mainly limited to August and September because the correct conditions must exist for them to originate and intensify.
Hurricane Erin is a storm from Cape Verde. To the east of Erin, the National Hurricane Center is keeping an eye on two more storm groupings that have the potential to become tropical storms.
However, the environment is too complicated to predict whether any of those storms will pose a threat to the United States or how powerful they could be if they materialize. More than a week out, forecasters start to lose faith in their ability to accurately anticipate the future of any given storm. A prospective hurricane must travel across the Atlantic Ocean for at least ten days.
Cape Verde storms originate over Africa, when hot, humid air from the Gulf of Guinea collides with hot, dry air from the Sahara to form thunderstorm clusters that migrate off the continent.
The first element is the heated water.Light winds above them that don’t sweep the thunderstorms away from the center are also ideal for hurricane growth.
Since they have had the greatest time to mature, they are the strongest. According to Masters, the other storms may make an early landfall.
To better understand why some storms occur and others do not, scientists have been examining the ocean and atmosphere in the far eastern Atlantic for a number of years.
Scientists have recently discovered that dust and dry air from Africa’s Sahara, which are thrown into the Atlantic from the east, can reduce the high humidity hurricanes require and prevent them from developing. On the East Coast of the United States, the dust can land on windows and automobiles after traveling over the Atlantic.
The air is hot and dry, the winds are fierce, and they travel around a mile above the surface. According to Jason Dunion, a scientist at the University of Miami’s Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies, that trifecta inhibits storm activity.
There might not be a Cape Verde storm in several years. As many as four or five may be visible to some. However, the National Hurricane Center reports that on average, one or two hurricanes per year are categorized as Cape Verde storms.
The United States has been struck by other hurricanes as well.Just nine of the 60 hurricanes that have hit the United States, according to the Weather Channel’s analysis of hurricanes since 1995, have made it all the way across the Atlantic.
The list of the most memorable, potent, and deadly storms shares many similarities with the list of well-known Cape Verde hurricanes.
Both the 1928 Okeechobee storm, which killed 2,500 people in Florida, and the 1900 Galveston hurricane, which killed over 8,000 people in Texas, are examples. More recently, Cape Verde storms have been responsible for hurricanes Donnin 1960 in Florida, Hugoin 1989 in South Carolina, Andrewin 1992 in Florida, Ivan in Grand Cayman, Alabama, and Florida in 2004, Ikein Texas in 2008, Irmain Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Florida in 2017, and Florence in North Carolina in 2018.
