Fishermen on alert for the damaging winds of the ‘Cordonazo de la Santa Cruz’

Seas batter the Yucatan coast during a 2017 “Cordonazo de la Santa Cruz”

It looks like even Cordonazo is in quarantine. Or maybe the meteorological phenomenon that seafarers dread every year is lost at sea.

But there’s still time for it to arrive, with a vengeance.

The powerful squall known locally as the “Cordonazo de la Santa Cruz”, or the squall of the holy cross, has a habit of bringing strong winds and rain around May 3, or at the latest, May 5. So if it doesn’t arrive soon, it will have missed its cue.

Today skies are partly cloudy, and there is a slight chance of thunder showers around 6, but so far nothing dramatic has happened. Still, the Regional Captaincy of Ports of Yucatan recommends that coastal fishermen use caution because current weather conditions favor a sudden Cordonazo.

In previous years the squalls have whipped the port of Progreso, including the shelter port of Yucalpetén, where several boats were yanked from their moorings. The worst of the storms normally last only about 30 minutes.

The “holy cross” squalls aren’t confined to the coast. Previous storms have knocked out power on the Paseo de Montejo and toppled trees and utility poles throughout the Peninsula.

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