Hurricane Gonzalo has made its closest approach to Bermuda as a Major Cat 3 Hurricane with winds of 115mph! Bermuda was just under the northern eyewall where the 100mph+ winds are located.. So far, top gusts have been in the 125mph range and I expect hurricane force winds to be prevalent on the island until midnight.. Because Gonzalo is a smaller hurricane, I dont expect the storm surge to be at a traditional Cat 3 level, but rather a Cat 2 level instead.. Still I anticipate a 6-10 storm surge with local surge up to 12 possible.. Winds and storm surge of this magnitude are capable of causing widespread damage though the infrastructure of the building in Bermuda is pretty strong.. Still this is a life threatening, very dangerous and strong storm.. Hopefully everyone there has hunkered down and is safe!! From there, Gonzalo is now expected to pass just east of Newfoundland as a still strong Cat 1 85mph (my official call) hurricane.. by this time, the windfield would have expanded as Gonzalo will be transitioning to an extratropical low.. Since Newfoundland will be on the weaker, western half of the storm, I dont expect hurricane force winds or a high storm surge there anymore.. However I can still see top winds of 50mph-70mph with a 2-4 storm surge occurring on the easternmost part of the province.. Elsewhere, Ana finally became a Cat 1 75mph hurricane.. She is expected to come close to Hawaii, but not make a direct landfall.. This will take place over the weekend.. Ana should weaken back to a 60mph-70mph tropical storm as it approaches the cooler waters by Hawaii.. Hawaii itself can expect 40mph-50mph top winds, heavy rain, and a minimal storm surge.. It will be like a plain old NorEaster to us but it is a big deal for them as they seldom get affected by strong tropical systems; though they did get 3 this year including Ana.. As for us, we should still bask in warm and fair weather in the short term.. After seeing 70 today, lows will fall back to 55-60.. Saturday will be another beauty with highs again near 70 under partly sunny skies.. Then a powerful cold front will pass over Sat night, ushering in cold Canadian air (the coldest of the season).. Lows will be in the 40s Sat night and only be in the low to mid 50s as highs Sunday.. Next week does not look good either.. Monday will be okay with some sun and temps rebounding slightly to the upper 50s.. However, we will see gray skies and some rain for a bulk of the work week with temps only ranging from the upper 50s to low 60s.. I will provide more specifics of this time frame over the weekend.. In the mean time, I am hoping for the best for Bermuda!!
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 23:50:41 +0000
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