Major Hurricane Bertha
Position: 20.8 N 52.8 W. [10 PM CDT] Updated
Movement: West-Northwest [300°] near 12 mph.
Maximum sustained winds: 120 mph. [Category 3]
Wind Gusts: 150 mph.
Hurricane Wind Radius: 25 miles.
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 115 miles.
Minimum central pressure: 952 mb.
Bertha went right by cat 2 to category 3, a major hurricane, but it is definitely moving more to the Northwest and slowing, so it may yet avoid the coast, but could be a problem for Bermuda. It is a very tightly wound storm, as evidenced by the small hurricane wind field. A Hurricane Hunter mission is planned for tomorrow.
5 comments
lbar? were we following that model last year? [it’s all starting to run together]
i see that the bamm model has bertha headed this way. who named [acronymed?] that one anyway?
Give them a break, they’re weather geeks, not Lit majors.
It’s counter-intuitive, but a stronger storm is easier to move. Because the strength jumped, it is more affected by the weakening of the ridge of high pressure that has been providing guidance and will go North sooner than if it had remained a tropical storm.
It is not good news that it jumped to cat 3 from a tropical storm in about 12 hours. We saw too much of that last year. If one of these things does smack the US it will probably be as a major hurricane.
i was thinking it was too appropriately named. i wince every time i read that one, cf your If one of these things does smack the US….
Well, it’s better than an OMG model that only works for cat 3 and above.
🙂