Powerful storms threaten US coastlines as 65mph winds batter Atlantic and major hurricane looms
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Subtropical Storm Josephine pushed north off the U.S. Northeast coast early Thursday, threatening parts of the Eastern Seaboard with coastal flooding and potential gale-force winds.
The storm recorded maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 kph) and was about 265 miles (425 kilometers) south of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and 585 miles (940 kilometers) southwest of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami projected that Josephine will move further away from the United States and stay south of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.
A gale warning issued by the National Weather Service covered regions across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, indicating winds above 39 mph (63 kph) remain possible through midmorning Friday.
Small watercraft operators south to North Carolina’s Outer Banks were cautioned about dangerous conditions, while minor to moderate coastal flooding is slated to continue along the mid-Atlantic coast through the week.
In the Pacific Ocean, Tropical Storm Vance moved off Mexico’s southwestern coast and could intensify into a major hurricane. Located about 505 miles (815 kilometers) south of Acapulco, Mexico, the storm sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kph) late Wednesday and was expected to reach hurricane status Thursday before becoming a major hurricane on Saturday, according to the U.S. center.
The Atlantic hurricane season saw an exceptionally quiet first four months, driven by one of the strongest El Niño events on record, though that trend has shifted. Earlier this month, Tropical Storm Isaias rapidly intensified to hurricane strength within 24 hours before making landfall.
The system tied a 121-year-old record set on Oct. 8, 1905, for the latest-forming initial hurricane of an Atlantic season, according to the National Weather Service.
Isaias marked the ninth named storm of the current season, with none of the previous eight developing into hurricanes. A typical hurricane season generates 14 named storms, seven of which become hurricanes and three of which grow into major hurricanes with winds topping 110 mph (177 kph).
“The season has been completely dead — and we’re still going to have an impactful storm hitting the northern Gulf,” Colorado State University hurricane expert Phil Klotzbach said earlier this month. “How impactful it is remains to be seen.”
El Niño involves a natural, temporary warming across sections of the equatorial Pacific, triggering unusual global weather patterns. While it is one of several elements behind the formation of Isaias, the current El Niño “still is certainly driving the bus,” Klotzbach stated.
Gulf water temperatures are currently “super hot” and function as “rocket fuel for hurricanes,” he noted, alongside contributions from the Madden-Julian Oscillation, a global weather pattern moving around the planet roughly every 30 days.
Even so, overall Atlantic hurricane activity — measured by storm count, duration, and intensity — is on track to be the quietest recorded since modern data collection began around 1950, thanks to an El Niño that could rank as the strongest ever recorded, Klotzbach said.
