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The massive Hurricane Igor is now a Category One storm, with maximum sustained wind speeds of 140 km per hour, (85 miles per hour). As of this writing at 2:30 EDT, it looks as if it is on a direct collision course with Bermuda and is about 220 km (135 miles) southwest of Bermuda. The intensity of the storm has decreased over the past few days, but the size and rotation of the Igor means that Bermuda will be hit repeatedly as the arms of the hurricane spin over the 54 square kilometer (21 sq mi) island nation. In the satellite image above, Bermuda is the small white dot near the center of the image.
Damaging sustained winds of hurricane force will reach the Bermuda late Sunday afternoon, and they will continue into early Monday morning. Wind gusts are predicted to be near or just over 160 km/hour (100 mph) as Igor makes its closest approach to Bermuda. Here’s a link to even more hurricane images.
The hurricane threatens to leave widespread tree damage and power outages in its wake. Some structures will also sustain damage; but fortunately, many buildings on Bermuda are made of stone with foundations into bedrock.
Flooding is also a serious concern across Bermuda. Igor will not only drop 4 to 8 inches of rain but will also trigger a 6- to 10-foot storm surge. Worsening the situation is the fact that waves pounding Bermuda will rise to heights in excess of 40 feet into this evening.
The massive size of Igor will cause the hurricane to keep battering the island well into Monday afternoon.
This 3-D image of Igor’s cloud heights and rainfall from NASA TRMM data shows a large area of heavy rainfall (falling at about 2 inches per hour) shown here in red on Sept. 15 at 0353 UTC. The yellow and green areas indicate moderate rainfall between .78 to 1.57 inches per hour. The image reveals that Igor’s eye was still very distinct but the southwestern portion of the eye wall had eroded.
Sources: NOAA, AccuWeather, JPL
I kind of wish that Illinois could get hit with a hurricane just once. ^^
“I kind of wish that Illinois could get hit with a hurricane just once. ^^”
Check out Upcoming Hurricanes – http://xkcd.com/453/ 🙂
I know, it’s already old, but what the hell:
It’s pronounced Eye-gor!
@ Jon Hanford
xkcd is SO awesome 😉
“Check out Upcoming Hurricanes – http://xkcd.com/453/ ” Haha!
Best of luck to the bermudans despite my “envy.”
As a youth, I lived in the Miami, Florida area (Coconut Grove) and experienced several passing hurricanes. My Great Aunt and Uncle’s ‘live aboard’ boat was sunk in one – no fun! they lost everything!
As a boy scout, one of our duties was to canvas the neighborhood(s) prior to the storms, especially the homes of the elderly, to remove fruit from trees (A grapefruit or Avocados traveling at 100 mph can do a LOT of damage!). WE, of course, got to get out of school! After the storms, we would go out to the coast and view the damage(s).. There was ALWAYS lots of that!
I liked the storms, as most of my family lived aboard boats. When the hurricanes came we would usually (If there was time) take those boats up the rivers and/or inland passages and moor/tie them off securely as a hedge against the storm surge and winds. Then the whole family would come to our concrete brick constructed home to weather the storms. Fond memories of us all huddled together, warm and safe as the storms passed by! Of course the power would go out… so we’d have to eat all the food in the freezer(s). Since we kept lots of Lobster and Shrimp and other sea food (Many in my family were fishermen) in the freezer’s, we’d at least eat well!
Bad memories include… seeing neighbors roofs and houses destroyed and the subsequent water damage. Trees uprooted, flooding everywhere and destroyed shore side infrastructure… Once we came across a beached sailboat. We looked inside and found the body of an old man who had refused to leave his boat as the storm approached. The crabs had eaten the ‘soft parts’… UGH! NO fun…. that left a horrible memory~
During Hurricane Andrew (I was in California at the time), my sister’s house was totally destroyed. They were hunkered down with neighbors in their home. First the windows went.. then the roof went. They gathered in a hallway with mattresses held over them for 8 hours as the roof went and the storm swirled around them! There were 4 adults and 6 kids there. Again… they lost everything! The kids, for years, had nightmares PTSD! They were lucky to survive! The contractor hired to rebuild the house absconded with the monies he’d been paid…. which was kind of typical in that storm as so many homes were destroyed.
So….Pink… watch what you wish for!