History Being Made in the Tropics

Hurricane Julia in the eastern Atlantic rapidly intensified overnight, strengthening from a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 85 mph at 5pm Tuesday afternoon to a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 135 mph as of the 5am Wednesday morning advisory from the National Hurricane Center...just 12 hours later. Julia's pressure dropped an impressive 32 millibars in that 12 hour time frame. Now that Julia has reached Cat 4 status we have, for only the second time in history, two Category 4 hurricanes simultaneously active in the Atlantic Basin...the last time this occurred was in 1926! 84 years ago, almost to the day, on September 16th, the Great Miami Hurricane and Hurricane Four (tropical storms/hurricanes were designated with female names not until 1950, with male names introduced in 1979) were both Category 4 storms for a six-hour period.

Hurricane Julia is also now the strongest hurricane on record so far east in the Atlantic. Neither Igor or Julia is forecast to impact the United States. Tropical Storm Karl made landfall this morning on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula and will likely make a secondary landfall on the central Mexican coastline over the weekend. So far this season, 11 named storms have developed, with 5 hurricanes and 4 major hurricanes...all 4 reaching Category 4 strength. We have already surpassed the 2009 season's total of 9 named storms, 3 hurricanes and 2 major hurricanes.

Have a great day,

Lauren