Storm Strengthens To Become Third Hurricane Of 2011

While Maria has steered away from the East Coast of the United States, it still caused some problems for Bermuda on Thursday, and now has its sights set on the Canadian Maritime province of Newfoundland.  On top of that, the storm, which had so many struggles in its brief lifetime, managed to strengthen to become a hurricane.

Although it is only a minimal hurricane, Maria has entered some rarified air in this Atlantic Hurricane season.  Despite having 15 depressions and 14 named storms in 2011, the Atlantic basin has only dealt with three hurricanes.  Maria became that third hurricane on Thursday.  Hurricane Maria shares some similarities with the two other hurricanes from this season.

Maria, Hurricane Katia, and Hurricane Irene all followed similar paths in the Atlantic, but Katia and Maria ended up farther east.  Maria started out on about the same path of Irene, but a strong cold front pushed Maria away from the U.S. East Coast.  Irene didn’t face any such obstacle when it came up the Eastern Seaboard in late August.  Irene, Maria, and Katia were able to either strengthen or maintain hurricane force as they moved into normally cooler waters.

As of the 11:00 AM Advisory from the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, Hurricane Maria was located some 210 miles to the southwest of Cape Race on the coast of Newfoundland.  The storm is moving  rapidly to the Northeast at 52 miles per hour.  Maximum sustained winds are at 75 miles per hour with gusts in upwards of 90 miles per hour.  Minimum central pressure is now at 983 millibars or 29.03 inches of Hg.

Hurricane force winds extend some 45 miles from the eye while tropical storm force winds reach out some 275 miles.  A Hurricane Warning is in effect for Newfoundland from Arnold’s Cove to Brigus South.  A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect from Stone’s Cover to Arnold’s Cover and from Brigus South to Charlottestown.  Hurricane conditions are expected in the warning area by midday and tropical storm conditions are anticipated to linger until tonight.

According to the latest forecast discussion from the NHC, Maria is expected to maintain its hurricane status as it goes through Newfoundland.  The rapid motion of the storm will help in keeping its intensity for at least the next 12 hours.  The extreme forward speed of this storm could also add to the winds on the eastern side of the storm.  After passing Newfoundland, Maria should transition to an extratropical system.  The forecast is also calling for this post-tropical low to be absorbed by a cold front that just moved off the East Coast of the U.S. in the past 24 hours.

The forecast track has Maria moving right over the Southeastern portion of Newfoundland during the day on Friday.