Sam Tropical
Sam underwent rapid intensification and became the seventh hurricane of the 2021 Atlantic tropical season on Friday morning. Sam has continued to rapidly strengthen and is now a Category 4 monster hurricane with sustained winds of 145 miles per hour. Weather forecasters warn that there is a risk that the hurricane could turn toward the United States during the first few days of October after it navigates near the Leeward Islands early this week.
Sam was a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph on Friday morning, which was an increase of 40 mph in less than 24 hours. Meteorologists define rapid intensification as an increase in a storm’s maximum sustained winds of 35 mph or more within 24 hours, and Sam surpassed that benchmark.
By Saturday morning, the maximum sustained winds had increased to 120 mph, making it a Category 3 storm. Once a storm reaches category 3 status, it is considered to be a major hurricane. By Saturday afternoon, Sam strengthened further to 140 mph, making it a Category 4 storm.
The cyclone‘s development wasn’t showing any signs of slowing down any time soon. High-level clouds were seen fanning out away from the storm on satellite images, which indicated strong outflow and what meteorologists refer to as “venting.”
“This venting signature is typical of an intensifying hurricane,” Hurricane Expert said. He added that the counter-clockwise orientation of the clouds gives Sam a “classic Cabo Verde hurricane,” which is a type of hurricane that forms in the eastern Atlantic near the Cabo Verde Islands. This type of hurricane can go on to become some of the strongest, longest-lived hurricanes in the basin.
Sam was located 990 miles to the east-southeast of the northern Leeward Islands and was moving west-northwestward at 8 mph. A sweeping area of Saharan dust associated with dry air was visible near Hurricane Sam in satellite images on Friday. Dry air and dust can often act as inhibiting factors for tropical cyclone development, but Sam’s rapid intensification had so far defied those elements.
“There’s still lots of dry air associated with or in the path of Sam, but what it’s doing is, in a sense, creating its own environment for it to develop,” Meteorologists said. “None of the dry air is coming in toward the storm’s center itself. Instead, it’s being pushed outwards away from the system, and, with little wind shear, that is light winds aloft, we expect Sam to continue to develop.”
As Sam strengthens, the hurricane will produce progressively larger swells that will propagate outward from the center. These swells will generate building seas ahead of the storm that will cause large waves and rough surf along the east- and northeast-facing shores of the Leeward Islands that have direct exposure to the Atlantic.
“Sam has become a major hurricane Saturday morning and is expected to continue to strengthen on Sunday,” a Meteorologist said Saturday morning.
Sam is predicted to begin a gradual turn more toward the north, which will take the hurricane on a northwestward path on Sunday. Precisely when Sam makes that turn will be critical in determining exactly how much impact the strengthening cyclone will have on the Leeward Islands.
reference – accuweather ,NOAA
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