Struggling Storm Suddenly Deepens Two Category Two Hurricane

A few hours ago, Hurricaneville had posted an article on Katia returning to hurricane strength.  The storm had been battling shear for the past couple days after being forecast to become a major hurricane late last week.  However, over the past several hours, buoys in the Atlantic north of the Leeward Islands have detected dramatic strengthening in the storm.

As of the 11:00 AM advisory from the National Hurricane Center on Sunday morning, Hurricane Katia had grown back to a Category Two Hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale with maximum sustained winds now at 100 miles per hour.  Wind gusts are higher at 120 miles per hour.  Minimum central pressure with the storm has dropped dramatically to 966 millibars, or 28.53 inches of Hg.

Hurricane force winds now extend some 45 miles while tropical storm force winds still reach out about 175 miles from the eye.   Looking at the latest forecast discussion, Katia is expected to become a major hurricane within 24 hours, and peak at 120 mile per hour winds within the next 36 to 48 hours.   However, I must strongly emphasize that the forecast could continue to change since this rapid intensification came out of nowhere.  It isn’t out of the realm of possibility that Katia could strengthen to Category Four intensity.

The forecast track still remains uncertain for the east coast at this time.  Katia is still expected to continue moving Northwestward for the time being, and the five day track indicates that the storm should start to curve to the north by Thursday and Friday.  Residents along the Eastern Seaboard need to pay close attention to this storm.  In the least it appears that Katia will at least create large swells, heavy surf, and rip currents along the coast.