Idalia has ceased to be a tropical storm to pass, early on August 29, to the category of hurricane, according to a note published by the United States National Hurricane Center. The nucleus of this great cloud formation is located -this Tuesday- to the north of the Gulf of Mexico, affecting the west coast of Cuba, and maintains a rotating movement of increasing speed in a northeasterly direction, for which reason it is considered very probable that it reaches with violence - between Wednesday and Thursday - the northwest coast of the Florida peninsula, between Longboat Key and Indiana Pass, including Tampa Bay.
Florida authorities and the United States federal government have issued warnings regarding the possible effects of the passage of this hurricane, which could be the first with serious damage of the season in this country.
The monitoring of Idalia in its initial phase as a tropical storm has allowed the NOAA GOES 16 satellite to capture a spectacular sequence of the passage of this disturbance over the Gulf of Mexico.
The videos disseminated about this process by the CIRA (Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere) show the spectacularity of lightning in scattered areas of the clouds moving in a circular formation between the Yucatan peninsula and Cuba.
Electrical discharges are common in tropical storms and hurricanes, but rarely are satellite images of such quality and attractiveness obtained as those now offered by this team from the GOES project (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite), an initiative of the National Meteorological Service of United States, dependent on the National Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
