The development of a hurricane requires warm ocean water, a hot, humid environment and light, upper-level winds. During the peak of the Atlantic Hurricane Season, which extends from June through mid November, most storms develop from tropical waves that move westward off the coast of Africa. However, early and late in the season, these storms usually form over the warm waters of the Caribbean Sea or Gulf of Mexico; Hurricane Paloma offers a classic example.
After developing in the western Caribbean, Paloma began to drift to the northeast under the influence of an approaching cold front. Moving across open waters and beneath a calm upper atmosphere, the storm strengthened to a Category 4 Hurricane as it ravaged the Cayman Islands and headed for Cuba. Fortunately, just off the southern coast of Cuba, the storm encountered the strong upper level winds of the advancing front; combined with the effects of the island's mountainous terrain, these shearing winds disrupted the storm's crucial symmetry and it rapidly weakened to a minor, Category 1 Hurricane.
Paloma is expected to emerge from the north coast of Cuba as a tropical storm and to move off rapidly to the northeast. Of course, any slowing of its forward motion could allow the storm to redevelop but, as of now, the strong upper-level winds will likely prevent any strengthening and Paloma will die in the open Atlantic.
