Looks like #Irma is now sporting an eye on infrared satellite imagery. pic.twitter.com/aMArE7UptW
— Philip Klotzbach (@philklotzbach) August 31, 2017
As several cities in Texas (and Louisiana) continue to deal with flooding from Hurricane Harvey, a new hurricane has formed in the Atlantic that is expected to reach category four status. Irma is still several hundreds of miles away from the nearest land off the Atlantic, but the storm has quickly intensified — it was only declared a tropical storm on Wednesday — with winds speeds reaching 100 mph and could make landfall by next week.
Over the next few days, Irma is expected to travel west and continue to strengthen, possibly becoming a category four hurricane as early as this weekend and it could threaten islands in the eastern Caribbean by the middle of next week. It’s not yet known if the storm will threaten the United States. Few storms on Irma’s current path do hit the U.S., but the ones that do pack a powerful wallop.
Only ~15% of Cabo Verde hurricanes strike the U.S., but the ones that do are typically noteworthy.
Ivan (2004)
Isabel (2003)
Georges (1998) pic.twitter.com/gen2o5GMrL— Michael Lowry (@MichaelRLowry) August 31, 2017
https://twitter.com/RyanMaue/status/903258615221510149
The National Hurricane Center is also monitoring a Gulf of Mexico weather system that could become a tropical storm or worse in the next few days and threaten Texas and Louisiana, but it’s still too early to tell.
In the Pacific, a tropical storm has developed and is expected to drop 8-12 inches of rain on Mexico and could cause flash flooding and mudslides.
(Via Weather.com & USA Today)