New
Hurricane Brewing in the Atlantic — and She's a Monster
While Texas is still struggling to recover from Harvey, more
trouble was brewing Thursday out in the Atlantic — and her name is Irma.
Packing 115-mph winds and strengthening rapidly, Irma was
declared a Category 3 hurricane just before 5 p.m. and was heading west at 12
mph and picking up speed, the National Hurricane Center reported. At the time,
it was about 3,000 miles southeast of Miami.
"Irma is forecast to become a major hurricane by
tonight and is expected to be an extremely dangerous hurricane for the next
several days," the Hurricane Center warned in a bulletin.
Dennis Feltgen, a NHC spokesman and meteorologist, told NBC
News the "rapid intensification" of Irma's strength caught
everybody's attention at their headquarters in Miami.
"The good news is we have lots of time to watch this
develop," Feltgen said. "It's at least five or six days away from
touching any land."
And by land, Feltgen said he means the easternmost island in
the Caribbean Sea.
Does Irma, the fourth hurricane of the season, pose a new
threat to the U.S.?
"We don't have an answer for that yet," Feltgen
said. "It's way too soon to say with any certainty how this will affect
the United States."
The last major storm named Irma appeared in the Atlantic on
Oct. 2, 1978 and never made it to the U.S. coast.
Tropical Storm Irma came within 500 miles of the Azores
before petering out on Oct. 5, according to the National Weather Service.
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