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BiggerWhy September is key to hurricane season in the Caribbean
Traditionally, the month of September is associated with the peak of hurricane season activity in the Atlantic. But why is this?
Dominican Institute of Meteorology (Indomet) meteorologist Christopher Florian explained to the Hoy newspaper that this is due to the fact that, since the end of August, high temperatures have been recorded in the Atlantic Basin, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico, exceeding 26.5 °C.
” From these temperatures, tropical waves, troughs, and disturbances such as tropical cyclones or hurricanes begin to develop ,” the expert said.
Florian added that in September, sea surface temperatures can reach up to 30° Celsius.
” These temperatures cause water to evaporate more quickly, and this water vapor fuels hurricanes , sometimes known as explosive cyclogenesis, which increases from category one to category five,” he explained.
The meteorologist exemplified this phenomenon with the first hurricane of the 2025 hurricane season, Erin, which in just 24 hours rapidly went from category one to higher categories, reaching categories three, four, and five.
