Hurricane Sam roared at the center of the strength of a Category 4

 

Hurricane Sam roared at the center of the strength of a Category 4, with winds of 145 mph

Hurricane Sam continued to strengthen late Saturday night, as the Category 4 storm crept closer to Category 5 with maximum winds of 145 mph a day earlier than forecasters expected. It is the fourth major hurricane of the 2021 season.

The rapid intensification -- a toxic Category 2 hurricane with 110 mph winds early Saturday morning -- is expected to last through the night. The maximum sustained winds for Category 4 storms range from 130 mph to 156 mph.

At this point, Sam is not expected to threaten southern Florida. The hurricane center has shifted Sam's forecast cone to the north and east since its last warning, thanks to a basin that is expected to develop over the western Atlantic over the coming days, causing the storm to reduce its forward speed and shift toward northwest early next week and avoid a strike. Directly to the eastern Caribbean islands.

As of 11 p.m. on a consultant Saturday, Sam was about 990 miles east-southeast of the Eastern Caribbean and moving west-northwest at eight mph.

The National Hurricane Center describes Sam as a "small storm" with hurricane-force winds 30 miles from Sam's center and tropical storm winds 105 miles from its center.

Sam's growth is expected to stabilize early next week as it hits the wind shear. 

The 19th storm of the season, Teresa, faded completely at 2 a.m. on the Sunday newscast.

Teresa was the second oldest named storm 19 to form in the Atlantic basin, after only the 2020 season.

A vast area of ​​low pressure may form over the eastern or central tropical Atlantic early next week, west of the tropical wave that will move off the coast of Africa. Environmental conditions appear favorable for some development of this turbulence as it moves slowly westward over the middle of next week.

Randy Adkins, AccuWeather's meteorologist, expects hurricane season to remain busy over the next few weeks.

"There is precedent for sure, and unfortunately, last year seems to be a relatively close match to this year in terms of how things unfold," he said, referring to the record 30th hurricane season for the 2020 season.

"Last year was a bit busier, but we are already well above average so far with this hurricane season. Given that, I expect activity to continue through the remainder of the month and into October."

Wind shear that prevented previous tropical storms, Peter and Rose, from developing into more robust systems is expected to be weak next few days, which will support SAM's development and warm water temperatures in the Atlantic.

The remaining storm names this year season are Victor and Wanda, with more than two months remaining.

In case you run out of storm names, late-season storms won't have the tantalizing Greek words like Zeta and Theta used last year.