Hurricane Earl becomes extratropical storm; beaches could see rip currents

Saturday afternoon, Hurricane Earl devolved into a hurricane-force extratropical low, according to the National Hurricane Center in its 5 p.m. advisory.

The storm’s maximum sustained winds dropped from 105 miles per hour to

85 mph in the advisory. Weakening is expected during the next few days, and Earl’s winds are likely to fall below hurricane force early Sunday.

Earl’s wind field is expanding. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to

90 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 485 miles.

The storm is located about 215 miles south of Cape Race, Newfoundland, moving north-northeast at about 10 mph.

There remains a high risk of rip currents across the eastern United States over the weekend.

On Thursday, Earl’s maximum sustained winds had increased to 105 mph, making it the first Category

2 hurricane of the 2022 Atlantic season.

The last time a major hurricane hadn’t formed by Sept. 11 was in 2014, when Edouard became a Category

3 on Sept. 16. That season followed a 2013 where there were no major storms recorded.

The National Hurricane Center is tracking another system Saturday that has low odds of developing into tropical depression.

A tropical wave is forecast to move off the west coast of Africa on Monday. Gradual development of the wave will be possible during the early to middle part of next week while it moves westward or west-northwestward across the eastern tropical Atlantic Ocean. Formation chance through the next 48 hours is low, and it has a 30 percent of developing over the next five days.

Hurricane Danielle, which became a post-tropical storm on Thursday before dissipating, and Earl were the first named storms to form in the Atlantic since early July, when Tropical Storm Colin formed offshore of the Carolinas.

This comes after a quiet August with no named storms, something that happened for only the third time since 1961.

The 2020 hurricane season set a record with

30 named systems, while

2021’s season was the third most active with 21 named systems. An average year calls for 14 named storms.

The next named storm to form will be Fiona.

Forecasters say dry air, Saharan dust and wind shear have been among the reasons there haven’t been more storms this year.

Hurricane season ends Nov. 30.