arubabeaches.net

As hurricane Felix is headed towards Central America and left Aruba behind, it raises the question on how common hurricanes are in this part of the Caribbean. Many advertise that Aruba is not in the hurricane zone, lets analyze this a bit.

To get right to it, since 1995 there were 3 hurricanes within the 100 miles radius from Aruba:

Hurricane Felix

• Year: 2007
• Saffir-Simpson scale: Category 1
• Closest distance to Aruba: about 40 miles*
• Damage in Aruba: minimal, typical flooding in low lying areas

Hurricane Ivan

• Year: 2004
• Saffir-Simpson scale: Category 4
• Closest distance to Aruba: about 80 miles*
• Damage in Aruba: substantial material damage caused by flooding throughout the island

Hurricane Emily

• Year: 2005
• Saffir-Simpson scale: Category 3
• Closest distance to Aruba: about 100 miles*
• Damage in Aruba: minimal

* Own estimates

Hurricane Lenny in 1999 was a category 1 storm and the closest it got was 170 miles. No damage to Aruba.

These were the major storms that Aruba had to deal with since 1995. Occasionally there were other systems to take into consideration like tropical storms/depressions. These systems tend to bring rain and big surf but no major damage.

I’ve used data from National Hurricane Center in Miami for above image and this post. By the way those guys at the hurricane center do terrific work, keep it up guys.

Disclaimer: I’m not a meteorologist, use above data as an indication. For more scientific information visit National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration or National Hurricane Center.