© NASA
A handout photo made available by NASA shows an image acquired by the joint NASA/NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite of then Tropical Storm Irma in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean, on 30 August 2017
A handout photo made available by NASA shows an image acquired by the joint NASA/NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite of then Tropical Storm Irma in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean, on 30 August 2017
Such explosive strengthening is known as "rapid intensification," defined by the National Hurricane Center as having its wind speed increase at least 30 knots (35 mph) in 24 hours. "Irma has become an impressive hurricane," the National Hurricane Center said on Thursday, noting the rapid intensification, and saying "this is a remarkable 50 knot [58 mph] increase from yesterday at this time."
Hurricane Harvey underwent rapid intensification last week, just before landfall, which brought it from a tropical storm to a Category 4 hurricane when it moved onshore near Corpus Christi.Irma is a classic "Cape Verde hurricane," a type of hurricane that forms in the far eastern Atlantic, near the Cape Verde Islands (now known as the Cabo Verde Islands) and tracks all the way across the Atlantic.
Comment: Images of Irma's possible path:
Computer model "spaghetti" plot showing track projections for Hurricane Irma
Irma's path is still uncertain - normal for hurricanes while they're still traversing the Atlantic towards the coast. On average, there's a 194-mile margin of error in five-day forecasts. As usual, predictions are only as good as the models and initial conditions used to produce them. And no model is perfect. For example, here are the predicted tracks from Sept. 1st (NOAA):
Update (Sept. 3)
The Weather Channel reports that Irma has strengthened into a Category 3 hurricane. Additional strengthening is expected as Irma moves westward in the week ahead. Irma will move close to the Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico by the middle of this week, and then near or north of Hispaniola, the Turks and Caicos and Bahamas late week into next weekend.
Projected Path and Intensity
One such fake forecast has been shared on social media almost 40,000 times. The official NOAA emblem was cut and pasted to make it look genuine. It depicts Irma's predicted path to impact the U.S.
Fake Hurricane Irma forecast.