The hurricane season in the Caribbean is well defined. Normally, it runs every year from June 1 to November 30, but there are variations within this period, and on rare occasions hurricanes can already form in May. In Colombia, the authority responsible for monitoring the weather, the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM), warned about the possible arrival of the first tropical wave of the year, a system that would increase rainfall in the Colombian Caribbean and anticipates the beginning of a key climatic phase.
That possible arrival of the first tropical wave of the year, expected in the coming days, marks the beginning of an atmospheric dynamic that usually intensifies rainfall in the region and anticipates the cyclone season. For that reason, early monitoring of these tropical waves is key because some can evolve into more organized systems under favorable conditions in the Atlantic Ocean. Thus, the eventual arrival of the first tropical wave in Colombia not only represents an immediate increase in rainfall in the Colombian Caribbean, but also the beginning of a climatic stage.
“Five days after the month of May began, the first tropical wave of 2026 is already approaching Colombian territory,” reported the newspaper El Heraldo. “These meteorological systems are the prelude to hurricanes and their arrival is historically expected for this time of the year.” Tropical waves are atmospheric disturbances that travel from east to west in the intertropical zone. Their passage favors the formation of clouds, thunderstorms and rainfall of varying intensity.
Rain in sectors of northern Colombia
IDEAM confirmed the approach of this phenomenon, which originates in Africa and travels across the Atlantic toward the west, and stated that in three or four days it would reach Colombia, accompanied by rainy conditions. “The projection of this wave is that of a disturbance that brings humidity. The characteristic is that all these tropical waves come with humidity, cloudiness and, therefore, rainy conditions,” Mirovan Sverko Navarrete, meteorologist at IDEAM, told that outlet.
The specialist also warned that this system could also influence wind speeds and wave height in the region. The tropical wave is moving through Guyana, that is, close to South America. The meteorologist from Corpoguajira, Leidy Rodriguez, added in the same outlet that the wave continues its movement toward the west with an approximate speed between 18 and 28 km/h, and that in satellite images from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) scattered rainfall can be observed near the axis of the wave.
However, the system is moving in a dry environment, which “limits its development and reduces the probability of significant impacts in the short term,” the expert explained. This behavior of the tropical wave allows forecasting that it tends to weaken and possibly dissipate in the coming days, although behind it another tropical wave is already coming, also emerging from the coasts of Africa, still far from national territory, and whose movement is projected toward the west.
Rodriguez told El Heraldo that in the Colombian Caribbean region rainfall could occur in the departments of Cordoba and Sucre, as well as in scattered areas of Bolivar, Magdalena, Atlantico, northern Cesar and southern La Guajira. She assured that “these precipitations could be associated with the interaction of meteorological systems such as the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), the Darien Low and the entry of cold fronts from the northern hemisphere.”