Historic Hurricane Ophelia hits land today ... in Ireland
HURRICANE OPHELIA weakened to a post-tropical cyclone Monday, but it was still packing enough powerful winds to damage Northern Ireland, forecasters said.
Strong winds could also hit Scotland, Wales and England after Ophelia makes landfall in southern Ireland. The storm stands to be one of the strongest to strike the Emerald Isle in decades.
Ophelia, which had become a Category 2 hurricane, is farther east in the Atlantic than any major hurricane on record.
“Direct impacts from wind and heavy rain in portions of these areas are likely, along with dangerous marine conditions,” the U.S. National Weather Service said in a statement.
The rastorm system was expected tolash Ireland on Monday with gusts of up to 80 mph, rain and storm surges. Weirder still, it’s expected to fall apart Tuesday near Norway .
Ireland’s Met Eireann weather service issued a “status red” warning — the most severe of three weather alerts — for the western counties of Wexford, Galway, Mayo, Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Waterford.
Ophelia could make landfall near Trump International Golf Club — Doonbeg, which is located in County Clare. Britain’s Meteorological Office also warned of severe windy weather for Northern Ireland, Scotland and northern England. Ophelia is drawing comparisons to Hurricane Debbie in 1961, which slammed Ireland with gusts of 110 mph and killed at least 17 people.
Monday also marks the 30th anniversary of the Great Storm of 1987, which killed almost 20 people in Britain and toppled 15 million trees.
Hurricane Ophelia is the 10th Atlantic storm in a row to reach hurricane status, tying a mark last reached in 1893. Meteorologists say the culprits are warmer weather, weak wind shear across the tropical Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, more moisture and atmospheric instability.
“It has been a horrible hurricane season,” said Philip Klotzbach, a meteorologist at Colorado State University who specializes in hurricane forecasts. “It was the most active September on record for the number of hurricane days and other metrics,” he added.