Hurricane Gonzalo has, as anticipated,
intensified into a "major" hurricane with maximum sustained
winds of 115 miles per hour. Additional intensification is expected
overnight.
Hurricane Gonzalo is poised to hit Bermuda later this week as a
major hurricane, with sustained winds at or greater than 111
miles per hour. The storm is likely to become the second major
hurricane of the relatively benign 2014 Atlantic hurricane season,
peaking at up to Category 4 intensity on the Saffir Simpson
Hurricane Wind Scale.
At such strength, it would cause widespread, major damage if it
comes close enough to Bermuda, which is a small island popular
with vacationers for its beaches and balmy breezes.
Hurricane Gonzalo swept through the Lesser Antilles on Monday,
causing damage to the island of Anguilla in particular. Winds
there gusted well above hurricane force (74 miles per hour). The
storm missed Puerto Rico, instead heading north at a point east of
the island.
Computer model projections are nearly unanimous in taking the
storm north-northeast toward Bermuda by Friday morning, and
then race northeastward toward Newfoundland. Depending on the
storm's strength at that point, it could be a major threat to the
Canadian Maritimes, which have been hard hit by hurricanes
during the past few years.
Meanwhile, in the eastern Pacific Ocean, Tropical Storm Ana
formed on Monday, and is intensifying into a hurricane. It could
become the third tropical cyclone to come close to making landfall
in Hawaii this season, which would be extremely rare. The Hawaiian
Islands were hit by Tropical Storm Iselle on Aug. 8, causing
extensive damage on the Big Island, and Tropical Storm Julio
nearly hit the islands a week later.
As if these storms weren't enough to track, a storm larger than
both Ana and Gonzalo has formed in the North Atlantic, but
powered by different mechanisms.
Rather than getting its energy from warm ocean waters, as
tropical storms and hurricanes do, this non-tropical storm system
derives its power from differences in temperature and moisture
content between air masses, as well as energy from the upper
atmospheric river of air known as the jet stream. It is, in
meteorological parlance, a "baroclinic" weather system — use that
at a party, it will impress your friends. (OK, maybe not.)
The storm, which was located about 1,000 miles or more northwest
of the United Kingdom, produced 50-foot waves and hurricane
force winds over the open ocean, according to the National
Weather Service, but it has begun weakening as it spins toward
Europe.
Some flights between the U.S. and Europe were rerouted on
Monday into Tuesday to avoid turbulence associated with the
storm.
mashable.com/2014/10/14/hurricane-gonzalo-threatens-bermuda/