Cat 4 hurricane Matthew aims at Cuba

[pscot]

https://www.wunderground.com/hurricane/atlantic/2016/Hurricane-Matthew

The spectacular three-day strengthening of Hurricane Matthew continued on Friday afternoon. Not yet even classified as a depression on Wednesday morning, Matthew was packing Category 4 winds of 140 mph as of the 5 pm EDT Friday advisory from the National Hurricane Center. Satellite imagery on Friday put a spotlight on Matthew’s rapid intensification, as a 15- to 20-mile-wide eye developed during the day (see Figure 1 below). Air Force Hurricane Hunter flights on Friday afternoon found peak flight-level winds of 117 knots (135 mph) around 2:20 pm EDT. Top near-surface winds, estimated by radiometer outside of rain-contaminated areas, were 111 knots (128 mph) around 3:45 pm EDT.

Hurricane Matthew is already being blamed for two deaths. One occurred on St. Vincent on Thursday, when a teenager was trapped against a house by a boulder that was dislodged by the storm. The other came on Friday in Colombia, where a drowning death in a rain-swollen river occurred in Uribia, La Guajira.

[mnhtnbb]

1. Upgraded to Cat 5

Extending a jaw-dropping stretch of rapid intensification, Hurricane Matthew has become the Atlantic's first Category 5 hurricane since Felix in 2007. Matthew's top sustained winds were set at 160 mph in the 11 pm EDT update from the National Hurricane Center. The upgrade was based on radiometer-measured near-surface winds as high as 143 knots (165 mph] gathered in a Hurricane Hunter flight on Friday evening. Now located less than 100 miles north of the Colombian coastline, Matthew continues to move just south of due west at about 7 mph.

https://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/matthew-becomes-the-atlantics-first-category-5-hurricane-in-nine-year

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. I went from a 3 to a 5 in about 12 hours, it seems.

That is amazing.

[mnhtnbb]

3. Jamaica and Cuba better get ready!