The second hurricane of the season formed Tuesday night and is expected to strengthen into the season’s first major hurricane with maximum sustained winds of up to 130 mph, forecasters said Wednesday.
Another system several hundred miles off the African coast has high odds of developing, and National Hurricane Center forecasters are predicting it will form into a tropical depression by Friday.
As of 8 p.m. Wednesday, Earl’s maximum sustained winds increased to 90 mph and was located about 390 miles south of Bermuda, moving north at 8 mph. Earl’s hurricane-force winds extended out up to 45 miles from its center while tropical storm-force winds extended out up to 150 miles.
Bermuda was under a hurricane watch as of 5 p.m. Wednesday and remained under a tropical storm warning as Earl closed in. The National Hurricane Center said Bermuda could see tropical storm and hurricane conditions by Thursday afternoon and into Friday morning. Its center is expected to pass to the southeast of Bermuda late Thursday.
“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,” said AccuWeather chief on-air meteorologist Bernie Rayno.
Earl is forecast to strengthen significantly during the next few days, becoming a major hurricane, meaning Category 3 or above, by Thursday or Thursday night, the National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory.
Its winds could top 130 mph by Friday night.
Earl’s impacts could extend as far west as the U.S. East Coast, near the Carolinas, in the form of rough seas, swells and rip currents..
”Thankfully, Earl is going to pass over 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,” said AccuWeather senior meteorologist Michael Doll.
The storm is expected to continue moving northward, before taking a turn to the northeast, curving away from the U.S. starting Thursday afternoon.
Hurricane Danielle maintained its strength Wednesday afternoon with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph as it moved northeast at 16 mph over the open Atlantic. Forecasters said in a 5 p.m. update that Danielle should start to lose strength Wednesday night and further weaken throughout the weekend.
“After transitioning into a tropical rainstorm, there is some chance that Danielle could bring rain to western Europe next week. The extent and location of the rain will depend on the exact track of the storm,” AccuWeather senior meteorologist Adam Douty said.
Forecasters say an area of low pressure located off Africa’s west coast could form into a tropical depression this week, and gradual development is possible as this system moves generally west-northwestward in the Atlantic.
As of 8 p.m. Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center said the system was becoming more defined and had increased its chances development to 70% over the next two to five days, up from 60% earlier in the day. Forecasters expect a tropical depression to form in the next few days as it moves west to northwest over the eastern and central Atlantic at 15 to 20 mph.
After Friday, it will face upper-level winds later in this week, which are known to hinder storm development.
A second tropical wave is expected to emerge off Africa this week. It has been given a 30% chance of developing over the next five days.
[ STAY UPDATED with the latest forecast for tropical weather at SunSentinel.com/hurricane ]
Danielle and Earl are the first named storms to form in the Atlantic since early July, when Tropical Storm Colin formed offshore of the Carolinas. This comes after a quiet August with no named storms, something that happened for only the third time since 1961.
The 2020 hurricane season set a record with 30 named systems, while 2021′s season was the third most active with 21 named systems. An average year calls for 14 named storms.
The next named storm to form will be Fiona.
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Forecasters say dry air, Saharan dust and wind shear have been among the reasons there haven’t been more storms this year.
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Hurricane season ends Nov. 30.
