Hurricane Sam rages in Atlantic
If it seems like Sam has been a major hurricane forever, you’re not imagining things. Sam zipped from tropical depression to Category 4 status between last Thursday and Saturday, and has been a major hurricane ever since. It’s one of two named storms in the Atlantic at the moment as we come close to exhausting the year’s preset list of “conventional” storm names.
A tropical storm watch is up for Bermuda where the very outskirts of Sam’s circulation may clip the island, but it’s likely that most, if not all, adverse impacts save for rough surf will spare the British Overseas Territory. Sam will pass primarily to the east.
Aboard the International Space Station, astronaut Megan McArthur peered down on Sam on Wednesday, snapping some photos and tweeting, “Another Hurricane? I do not like them, Sam I Am.”
Sam peaked in strength on Sunday with 155 mph winds, putting it just 2 mph shy of the threshold needed to claim Category 5 status. Many believe it probably was a Category 5 briefly, since it peaked in apparent strength via satellite before a hurricane hunter aircraft was able to investigate.
Ida reached a similar strength in late August when it ravaged extreme southeast Louisiana with winds of 150 mph and a devastating storm surge. Ida’s remnants dropped catastrophic rains that sparked deadly flooding and even brought a tornado outbreak to the Northeast.
To date, the 2021 season has produced 20 named storms, a pace that’s surpassed all other documented seasons but last year. A contributing factor is a record-tying number of “shorties,” or short-lived storms surviving two days or less, which has helped this season quickly work through the storm name list. Still, though, other metrics continue to highlight this season as being well above average.
Signs indicate there may be a brief pause in tropical activity once Sam and Victor finally wind down, but there are reasons to believe we’ll have to closely monitor the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, where waters are warmer than normal, for tropical storm development through October and even into November.