The time for Cape Verde hurricanes has arrived

The storms, which form off Africa’s west coast, are sometimes quite powerful.

- By JEFFREY COLLINS

QUEILA FERNANDES Associated Press

PEOPLE clear mud and debris from their home after heavy flooding in São Vicente, Cabo Verde, last week.

They are the hurricanes of legend, the bowling balls that cross the entire Atlantic Ocean, menaced ships of yore and make the long, curved lines on the hurricane charts.

Cape Verde storms, named for the group of islands about 450 miles off the west coast of Africa, typically form from clusters of thunderstorms that move off the continent and into the Atlantic.

With thousands of miles of ocean water above the 80-degree temperature needed to fuel hurricanes, Cape Verde storms are some ofthe most dangerous that threaten North America. About 85% of all major hurricanes — Category 3 and higher — start out there, according to the National Hurricane Center.

“They are the mediastars and certainly get a lot of attention because you can track them for a long time,” said Jeff Masters, a meteorologist for Yale Climate Connections.

But they also are a rare threat. Less than one out of every 10 of the storms crash into the U.S. The rest either fallapart orare curved out to sea by the north and east steering winds that normally prevail over the Atlantic.