The General Directorate of Security and Emergencies of the Government of the Canary Islands will continue to closely monitor the trajectory of Hurricane Leslie, in permanent contact with the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET), although the National Hurricane Center, responsible for predicting tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic, indicates that it is moving away from the Islands towards the Gulf of Cádiz. There, it is expected to become an extratropical storm affecting the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. In the Canary Islands during the weekend, rainfall is expected from Saturday, moderate wind with strong intervals from Sunday at noon and swell from the west and northwest, below the AEMET warning thresholds.
Tropical cyclone Leslie was named when it became a tropical storm in the Central Atlantic on September 23, was a category 1 hurricane, weakened to a tropical storm and became a hurricane again on Thursday, October 11. It began to move towards the Eastern Atlantic, approaching the Azores, Canary Islands and Madeira. The prediction of the National Hurricane Center during the last 24-36 hours indicated that it could approach the north and northwest of La Palma by turning its trajectory after reaching Madeira. The latest updates of the day indicate that it will not approach the Canary Islands, it will move towards the Gulf of Cádiz.
At 16:00 this Friday, Leslie, a category 1 hurricane, was 565 km south of the Azores. It is moving east-northeast at a speed of 52 km/h and the center of the cyclone is expected to be located north of Madeira on Saturday at noon. Hurricane-force winds extend up to 110 km from its center, and tropical storm winds up to 370 km/h.
In the meeting held this Friday afternoon with the seven Island Councils, Councilor Nieves Lady Barreto insisted that a certain degree of uncertainty remains and that the population should continue to pay special attention to the next 48 hours, in case there are changes that would make it necessary to activate the Emergency Plan for Adverse Weather Phenomena (PEFMA) and the declaration of Alerts.
The representatives of the Island Councils thanked the meeting and asked to maintain constant communication in these next 48 hours to unify the message to the population and avoid alarm, taking into account the erratic behavior that Leslie's trajectory has maintained so far.
