• Submitted by: manso
• Arts and Culture
• 06 / 26 / 2011

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Camagüey, Cuba, June 25 - Again the prophesy came true, and yesterday when the traditional San Juan celebrations began in Camagüey, “it rained cats and dogs” as it always happens on each June 24th, but this time the downpour was accompanied by hails that hit one of the most centrally situated areas of the former village of Santa María del Puerto Príncipe.

Juan Pérez Mederos who follows everything on meteorology and collaborates with the Provincial Meteorological Centre, was the first person in reporting the hailstorm that fell down from 6:25 to 7:15 pm near the San Juan de Dios Square, where the best preserved architectural complex of the city of Camagüey is located.   

Strong thunder and hailstorm were also observed on Marti Street, near the Plazuela de Bedoya, one of the sites of the city included by the UNESCO in its World Heritage List.   

As measured by those present, the size of the hails was estimated at between 5 and 6 millimeters, as big as a seed of pea or chick-pea.

According to specialist Luis Mompié, of the Weather Forecast Department in Camagüey, this event can be described as a severe local thunderstorm and in less than one hour, a total of 52.8 millimeters of rainfall were reported.

“The conditions that favored such an event were originated by the strong warming during daytime hours, the convergence of breezes during the evening and the high humidity in atmosphere's lower layers”, told Mompié.

So far this year, others hailstorms have occurred in the neighborhoods Villa Mariana, La Guernica, Julio Antonio Mella and near the Provincial Meteorological Center, in the city of Camagüey but the one that happened yesterday confirms that it always rains in Camagüey on June 24th. (Yamylé Fernández Rodríguez/Translated by Gualveris Rosales Sanchez/Radio Cadena Agramonte).