Showers associated with a weak cold front that affected part of the western part of the country excited Cuban residents, eager as they are to benefit from rain, in the face of an acute drought.

By Roberto Morejon

Showers associated with a weak cold front that affected part of the western part of the country excited Cuban residents, eager as they are to benefit from rain, in the face of an acute drought.

More than 400,000 people are suffering the punishment of the lack of rainfall in what experts describe as meteorological drought.

This is a phenomenon that occurs when the period without this benefit is prolonged or simply behaves below average.

Although the greatest number of people affected by this type of deficit is in eastern Guantánamo, the provinces of Camagüey, Santiago de Cuba, Holguín and Havana are also suffering from the same problem.

In the case of the latter, the four basins supplying water to the Cuban capital are in decline, with more than 47,000 people directly affected by the aridity and almost 4,000 of them receive the precious liquid by tanker trucks.

It is true that it is usual that in the first months of each year and until May the rains are spaced out because the largest of the Antilles faces the dry season.

But in the case of 2023, it will be a more severe year because the previous wet period was not very favorable.

With little more than half of their filling capacity covered, the reservoirs are the hope of many settlers and peasants, but their use must be dosed.

The authorities of Recuerdos Hidráulicos insist on explaining to Cubans the importance of not wasting water in the face of an expected longer than usual dry period.

They do not speak of a surprising phenomenon because for more than three decades the drying phases have been more frequent, extensive and prolonged in Cuba.

Experts explain that the phenomenon has its origin in the persistent and increasingly expansive influence of the Atlantic Ocean anticyclone over the Caribbean.

Scientists, graduates and other experts are working on a research project aimed at improving the prediction of drought stages through a seasonal rainfall forecast.

As long as the results are not on the table, the national economy, shaken by the impact of the U.S. blockade, will have more complications with the onset of aridity.

Thus, Cubans still have to face a period of difficulties regarding the availability of water until the beginning of the rainy season.