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Hurricane Earl: Bermuda under tropical storm warning

Friday, September 9, 2022

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Bigger, stronger and faster, Hurricane Earl intensified overnight Wednesday into Thursday as it neared Bermuda and became the strongest tropical cyclone of the year in the Atlantic basin. Earl will continue in strengthening and become a Category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of 111-129 that will be powerful enough for some impacts to be felt as far away as the East Coast of the United States.

As of early Friday morning, Earl was about 124 miles east-northeast of Bermuda, was churning in a north-northeastward direction at 17 mph, up from 10 mph on Thursday, and 8 mph on Wednesday, and was packing 100 mph sustained winds, making it Category 2 Hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. This was an increase from Thursday evening when Earl was a Category 1 Hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph.

In addition to its strengthening, Earl’s size consistently expanded Wednesday into early Friday with hurricane-force winds extending 80 miles out from its center and tropical-storm-force winds reaching 205 miles from the eye.

Given the size and strength of the storm, officials placed the islands of Bermuda under both a tropical storm warning and a hurricane watch on Wednesday, and AccuWeather forecasters expect some storm impacts to begin later Thursday and overnight into Friday as the storm closes in. The hurricane watch was canceled late on Thursday evening, but the tropical storm warning remained in effect.

In a press statement released on Wednesday, the Bermuda government said it was closely monitoring Hurricane Earl and had taken the measure of posting signs warning of high surf along some of its south shore beaches. The officials went on to say that they would continually assess the threat and issue further warnings as needed.

The center of the system was passing to the east of Bermuda on Friday morning, but it was still making its presence felt as atmospheric conditions continue to allow for strengthening.

“Wind shear will become less of a factor in terms of impacting Earl’s strength Chief On-Air Meteorologist Bernie Rayno said.”It will be in a zone of lower wind shear, but it will also be moving along with the winds, rather than fighting them.”

As a result, the lower and upper portions of the storm will become more aligned. Earl will not only begin to strengthen, but the system may also do so rapidly from Thursday to Friday.

“There will be some impacts on the islands of Bermuda in the form of building seas, rough surf, gusty winds and some rain from Earl, but the potentially destructive winds and torrential rain are likely to pass to the east,” Rayno said. Gusts frequenting 40-60 mph (60 to 100 km/h) are likely with a StormMax™ of 70 mph (115 km/h).

A general 1-2 inches (25-50 mm) of rain is expected, with an AccuWeather Local StormMax of 5 inches (125 mm). Downpours can lead to localized flooding in poor drainage areas.

Hurricane Earl will churn far away from the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, but due to its strength and size, its impacts will still be felt along the coastline.

Earl is going to pass more than 800 miles east of the coast of North Carolina. However, hurricanes that are the size and strength of Earl can send swells outward over 1,000 miles from the storm, Senior Meteorologist Michael Doll said.

Swells from Earl, combined with an onshore wind, are expected to create rough surf and dangerous rip currents through the weekend,” warned Doll.

The National Hurricane Center referred to the rough surf and rip currents expected this weekend and perhaps into early next week as a “life-threatening” danger along the East coast.

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