It’s October. A powerful hurricane is brewing in the Bahamas.
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“The most hard part of this forecast is the complexity and that most of our models haven’t done a good job cutting through that complexity”, WDAM Chief Meteorologist Nick Lila said.
The projected track of Hurricane Joaquin shifted to the east early Thursday. “The range of possible outcomes is still large and includes the possibility of a major hurricane landfall in the Carolinas”, the center said.
“A swath of drenching rain will swing westward from the Atlantic Ocean on Friday”. It was just declared a Category 1 hurricane Wednesday morning. However, it’s imperative that Rhode Islanders are also prepared so that they are ready for both the upcoming severe weather, as well as Tropical Storm Joaquin.
The rain? Now that’s a different story. Hurricane Joaquin gained strength to become a Category 4 storm earlier Thursday. “We are not quite yet sure whether this is going to be a single punch or a double punch”. As of Thursday, there was only minor flooding and power and water were still running.
“The ground gets saturated, trees come down, there can be a lot of different issues”, Paula Miller with the Virginia Department of Transportation told CNN affiliate WAVY.
“People weren’t taking this storm seriously until 48 hours ago”, he said. The Poconos took a beating during Sandy. But the storm is still expected to be felt in the US even if it doesn’t hit land. Make sure you have flashlights and fill any medicines you may need ahead of time. These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.
At 8 p.m. Thursday, its winds were about 130 miles per hour. “On the forecast track, the center of Joaquin will move near or over portions of the central Bahamas tonight and pass near or over portions of the northwestern Bahamas on Friday”.
However, south-central Pennsylvania likely will not see damaging winds and flooding as many feared could be the case as the hurricane continues north. Friday, expect rain, mainly after 3 p.m., and a high temperature of 58 degrees.
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Hurricane Joaquin is expected to strengthen in the Atlantic as it heads toward the central Bahamas before heading up the east coast of the United States, although the massive storm will not have a direct impact on Florida.
