this is troubling... wunderground/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2832 Hurricane Warnings are flying for Bermuda as one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to threaten the island, dangerous Category 4 Hurricane Gonzalo, aims its 145 mph winds towards Bermuda. After weakening briefly on Wednesday due to an eyewall replacement cycle, when the eye shrank to a minuscule 5 miles in diameter and the inner eyewall collapsed, Gonzalo successfully consolidated its new 20-mile diameter outer eyewall into an unbroken ring overnight. This allowed the hurricane to intensify from a Category 3 hurricane with 125 mph winds into a Category 4 hurricane with 145 mph winds overnight. That intensification process has now halted, as documented by three passes through the eye between 7 - 10:30 am EDT Thursday morning by a NOAA hurricane hunter aircraft. The plane found that the pressure had stabilized at 940 - 943 mb, a gap had opened in the southern eyewall, and a new concentric eyewall with a diameter of 40 miles had begun to form around an inner 17-mile diameter eyewall--all signs that intensification has halted. Wind shear is moderate, 10 - 15 knots, and Sea Surface Temperatures (SSTs) have cooled a bit, to 28.5°C (83°F). Infrared and visible satellite loops on Thursday morning showed an impressive well-organized major hurricane with plenty of intense heavy thunderstorms, excellent spiral banding, and solid upper-level outflow. This is not a hurricane that will weaken quickly.
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 00:37:06 +0000
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