MIAMI, Florida – A toxic Category 4 hurricane remained in the early hours of Monday as it moved over the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, and is not expected to pass over or near the Caribbean islands, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
According to Monday’s bulletin at 5:00 a.m. ET from NHC, the system was 800 miles east-southeast of the northern part of the Leeward Islands.
The hurricane had maximum sustained winds of 130 mph, and was moving in a northwesterly direction at a translation speed of 8 mph.
The Leeward Islands can start to feel the power of surfing early in the week.
Hurricane Sam is expected to remain a strong hurricane for several days and remain a “small” system, with hurricane-force winds felt within 30 miles of your eye and tropical storm winds up to 90 miles.
Current notifications and monitoring
There were no warnings or monitoring in effect for coastal areas.
This is the season in the Atlantic
The 2021 Atlantic hurricane season peaks in August and September, so the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently updated its forecast for the remainder of the year.
The agency said “another very active season” could see a total of 15 to 21 storms. Of those, 7 to 10 will be tornadoes and at least 3 to 5 will be very severe.
Those numbers reflect that hurricane season will be 65% more active than usual, NOAA member Matthew Rosecrans said in a webinar.
The first storm formed in early May, before the season officially kicked off, and was named Anna, followed by Bill, Claudette and Danny in June, and in July Elsa arrived, the first hurricane of 2021 in the Atlantic.
Fred was later formed, the seventh on the list is Grace, the eighth is Henry and the ninth is Ida. After Julian formed, the next storm was Kate, followed by Larry, Mindy, Nicholas, Odette, Peter, Rose, Sam, and Theresa. The next name on the list is Victor.
So far, only Elsa, Grace, Henry, Ida, Larry, Nicholas, and Sam have reached hurricane strength.
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