Epsilon becomes 10th hurricane in active season

Hurricane Epsilon, the 10th hurricane of an extremely active Atlantic season, is forecast to move near Bermuda over the next couple of days, the National Hurricane Center said.

The Category 2 hurricane should make its closest approach to the tiny island nation Thursday night.

Even if the center of the hurricane does not hit Bermuda, its outer winds are expected to affect the island, as tropical-storm-force winds extend as many as 435 miles out from the center of the hurricane. A tropical storm warning is in effect for Bermuda, and residents have been urged to closely monitor the storm.

“Tropical storm conditions are expected on Bermuda beginning later today and continuing intermittently through late Thursday,” the Hurricane Center said.

In addition to winds, ocean swells generated by Epsilon already are affecting Bermuda, the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles and the Leeward Islands, and they are expected to reach portions of the U.S. East Coast and Atlantic Canada in the next few days.

“These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions,” the Hurricane Center warned.

Epsilon had maximum sustained winds of 110 mph as of 2 p.m. Wednesday. The storm was about 365 miles east-southeast of Bermuda, and it was moving west-northwest at 9 mph.

Epsilon is the 26th named storm of 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. Its formation brought the season even closer to the record of 28 named storms set in 2005, AccuWeather said.