Storm Becomes Second Hurricane Of Atlantic Season

The calendar is now in the peak time for tropical storms and hurricanes in the Atlantic.  This is the prime Cape Verde season as well when we get powerful hurricanes that originate off the coast of Africa.  We’ve already had 12 depressions and 11 named storms this year, but only one hurricane.   However, late Wednesday night those hurricane numbers improved by one.

A storm that has been monitored by the National Hurricane Center and Hurricaneville for the past several days, Katia became the second hurricane of the 2011 Atlantic Hurricane Season in the 11:00 PM Advisory from the NHC on Wednesday night.  The storm is at minimal strength with 75 mile per hour winds with peak gusts at 90 miles per hour.  Barometric pressure is down to 987 millibars, or 29.15 inches of Hg.

According to the latest satellite estimates, Katia has hurricane force winds that extend some 25 miles from the eye, and tropical storm force winds reaching about 125 miles from the center.  Located in the Central Atlantic some 1065 miles to the East of the Leeward Islands, Katia is moving briskly to the West at 20 miles per hour.  The storm is expected to strengthen into a major hurricane with 72 hours.

The latest forecast discussion indicates that there has been some dry air that got entrained in the system, but it continues to hold up very well.  There is light wind shear and sea surface temperatures in that part of the Atlantic are beginning to peak.  Some of the intensity models such as the GFDL and GFDN indicate that Katia could intensify to have winds strong than 120 knots within the five day forecast period.  However, the NHC has the hurricane with winds at 105 knots or 120 mile per hour in five days.

Looking at the latest forecast track, Katia is to the left of the previous track.  The storm is currently driving westward underneath a deep layer ridge in the Central Atlantic.  Katia is expected to move west-northwest until it encounters a weakness in the ridge.  This motion will should steer the hurricane to the north of the islands by Monday and Tuesday.  The track continues to get more and more interesting with time.  With clean-up efforts going on in earnest, the last thing residents along the East Coast want to worry about is another hurricane.

However, residents are urged to monitor the progress of this developing storm.  Hurricaneville will continue to track this system as it continues to head westward in the Atlantic.