Caribbean hurricanes: case study of interacting easterly and westerly waves

This observational study considers Caribbean cyclogenesis in the period 2003?C2009. Numerous events are identified from maximum of low-level relative vorticity and rain rate, and a case study is analyzed. Although fast moving tropical cyclones (TC) pose dangers to Caribbean Islands, it is the slower moving TC that inflict flood damage. The Atlantic warm pool enlarges through October as steering winds slacken. African easterly waves move over the warm pool and draw moist unstable air, while near-equatorial Kelvin waves from the Pacific surge into the Caribbean. The westerly flow accelerates around the northern Andes and is drawn into TC Omar 13?C15 October 2008. A combination of warm pool air and cyclonic vorticity provided by transient zonal waves sets off the process of cyclogenesis.