Matthew strengthens to Category 5 storm headed for Jamaica, Cuba

[MowCowWhoHow III]

Source: Reuters

Hurricane Matthew surged in power on Friday to become the Caribbean's strongest storm in nine years as it moved towards Jamaica and Cuba with winds of up to 160 miles per hour (260 kph) powerful enough to wreck houses, forecasters said.

Matthew was about 430 miles (690 km) southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) designated it as a Category 5, the strongest on the Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity.

The strongest hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean since Felix in 2007 was forecast to make landfall as a major storm on Monday on Jamaica's southern coast, home to the capital and Jamaica's only oil refinery. It could affect the island's main tourist areas such as Montego Bay in the north.

"The government is on high alert," said Robert Morgan, director of communications at the prime minister's office.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-storm-matthew-hurricane-idUSKCN12020O

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[chillfactor]

1. this does not look good...

and DUer Malaise lives in the storms path!

[LuvNewcastle]

2. Wishing the best of luck to malaise.

If it must travel through Jamaica, I hope it passes over quickly. The worst storms are the ones that stall over a particular place and continually drop sheets of rain and horrible gales of wind.

[Callmecrazy]

3. Next couple of days will determine ...

Whether I have to batten down the hatches here in Fort Lauderdale.
I can't believe how fast this storm strengthened.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

4. I hope Matthew is not another Gilbert

Gilbert did a lot of damage in Jamaica in '88. People were living in blue tarp tents for a long time after that one.

edit to add link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Gilbert

[mnhtnbb]

5. Winds have lessened slightly--dropped back to Cat 4

[longship]

6. Stay safe, our very dear Malaise!

Keep us updated, if you can.

We are concerned. Plus we love you.

[alfredo]

7. The latest forecast is for it to jog west after Cuba.

Katrina was a fast developing storm. The Carolinas should be prepared to head for higher ground.

[Starseer]

8. Hopefully...

... this hurricane will interact with the Sierra Cristal and Sierra Maestra significantly and be disrupted sufficiently that it can't reorganize. That area in the SE of Cuba is very mountainous and terrain changes really disturb the laminar inflow that hurricanes depend upon. If it proceeds northward out of Cuba with any reasonable organization, things could get interesting for the SE US, though that will depend upon shear conditions that are hard to determine this far out.

For the record, I was pretty shocked to wake up yesterday to Matthew being a Category 5, and from the tone of the discussions, many of the forecasters at NHC were similarly taken aback. Those of us interested in tropical meteorology are going to be looking at this one for a while.

[shenmue]

9. Be careful everybody out there

[LeftInTX]

10. Stay safe Malaise!