TROPICAL TROUBLE

Written by: Bob Metcalfe

Today is unofficially (but very well could be) the "most intense hurricane day ever." Why? Because we have two simultaneous cat. 4 storms in the Atlantic basin, not to mention Tropical Storm Karl.

Igor is the storm in the middle of the satellite image, a strong cat 4 with winds at 145 mph as of this morning. His main threat is a turn to the north which puts him with an almost direct hit on the small island of Bermuda late Sunday/early Monday.

The right-most storm on this image is Hurricane Julia, a cat 4 packing 135 mph winds. From what I've read on the net, she's the eastern-most forming cat 4 EVER, meaning ideal hurricane-forming conditions exist right now. Fortunately, Julia won't have too much effect on any landmass, as she recurves and heads north well east of Bermuda in a few days.

It's funny to think that 2-3 weeks ago, many experts and even mass media were writing off this hurricane season. It goes to show you why we all should listen to hurricane experts. Looking at the 10-day GFS, we could have a home-brewed storm form in middle of the Gulf by the 24/25 timeframe. We shall see!