CAPE VERDE SEASON

We’re about at that time of the year where the tropics start to heat up, particularly in the deep Atlantic in what is called the Main Development Region (MDR), where the majority of storms develop during a typical season. Also known as Cape Verde season, for a group of islands, called the Cape Verde Islands, just off the African coast, where tropical waves coming off the coast into the Atlantic, start seeing better conditions to develop and make the long journey across the Atlantic, a lot of times into our part of the world.

These storms don’t necessarily develop near the Cape Verde islands, it’s just that the waves coming off the African coast stay together long enough to develop further instead of breaking apart and dissipating like so many early in the season do.

About 60, give or take, of these tropical waves come off the African coast in a given season. Most never amount to anything, either dissipating, or some even make the long journey across the Atlantic as light to moderate thunderstorms that never develop. But the ones that do stay together and develop, usually do so starting around mid August when conditions usually become much more favorable for development.

Hurricane Harvey is an example of a typical wave that started near the Cape Verde islands. It started as a tropical wave off the African coast and didn’t even become a depression until it was about 500 miles east of the Caribbean islands, some 1,900 miles from the Cape Verde Islands. Hurricane Rita was a Cape Verde wave that didn’t develop until it was near The Bahamas. The Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900 was a Cape Verde wave.


As we close in on the Cape Verde season, the waves that have been coming off the African coast the last 2 months and doing nothing, are starting to get to a point where they’re holding together with a greater chance to develop. There are currently 3 waves in the MDR that have development potential. 2 in the central Atlantic, and one just south of the Cape Verde islands. All 3 are waves off the African coast that unlike the multiple waves before them, are now starting to have better odds of developing. Even if that development doesn’t occur until it reaches places closer to home, like the Caribbean, Bahamas, etc. And then their journey often times doesn't end there, as they will reach the U.S. East coast or even traverse into the Gulf of Mexico, often with devastating effects.

So even though these waves are thousands of miles away and are currently nothing more than areas of disturbed weather giving us very little to no concern at the moment, they are something for us storm watchers to keep an eye on because they can eventually turn into something that can be very, very concerning.

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