Hurricane Gordon approaching the Azores by Laura Gilchrist
Hurricane Gordon, which is zipping along at quite a rate for a tropical cyclone, is approaching the Azores. At its current speed, around 30 mph (50 km/h), Gordon will be bearing down on the North Atlantic islands by the end of Tuesday.
The most unusual thing about Gordon is its strength: it is currently Category 2 on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Nothing remarkable about that, but the fact that it is still so strong over this part of the Atlantic is notable. Since records began, only nine hurricanes are known to have passed over the Azores, most recently Hurricane Charley in 1992.
Due to Gordon’s approach, a hurricane warning has been issued for the Azores. It is expected to remain at hurricane strength as it passes, bringing steady wind speeds of around 80 mph (130 km/h) and rainfall totals of between 50 and 100 mm (2-4 inches).
Soon after passing the islands Gordon will be on a weakening trend, and is forecast to have completed transition into an extratropical cyclone by Wednesday evening. An extratropical cyclone is a weather system without tropical characteristics that exists at higher latitudes.
In the past the UK has seen a number of former hurricanes pass close by, but all have been classed as extratropical cyclones. Two such recent occurrences were Isaac in 2000 and Lili in 1996. Hurricanes by their very nature cannot exist over the relatively cool waters surrounding the UK, but their extratropical cousins can be almost as damaging. As a mature extratropical cyclone, Lili left a reported £150 million worth of damage across the UK in late October 1996. Steady wind speeds of about 50 mph (80 km/h) with gusts as high as 90 mph (145 km/h) were reported on the 28th and 29th.
So while Hurricane Gordon itself is not heading for the UK, its extratropical remnants – in the form of atmospheric heat, energy and moisture – are forecast to have significant bearing on the weather in the UK later this week.
|
|
