Major Hurricane Matthew Moving Through Caribbean!

The strongest storm on the planet right now is Hurricane Matthew, with sustained winds of 150mph as of the 8pm EDT advisory. Here is what we know so far. Hurricane Matthew underwent a rapid intensification process from Thursday evening into Friday. Right now it has winds of 150mph. It is moving WSW at 9mph. It’s central pressure has dropped to 945mb. See the latest official forecast track and discussion from the National Hurricane Center below.

Matthew has continued to rapidly strengthen at a remarkable rate
today.  A NOAA Hurricane Hunter aircraft recently reported a peak
SFMR wind of 116 kt and flight-level winds of 121 kt.  A recent
dropsonde from the aircraft indicated that surface winds are around
120 kt.  Based on all of these data, the initial intensity is set to
120 kt, an increase of 55 kt in the last 24 hours.  The latest
pressure estimate from the aircraft is 949 mb, a drop of 44 mb since
this time yesterday. 
It is important to remind users that average NHC track forecast
errors are around 175 miles at day 4 and 230 miles at day 5.
Therefore, it is too soon to rule out possible hurricane impacts
from Matthew in Florida.

A Hurricane Hunters reconnaissance mission Friday evening measure winds of 150 mph in a dropsonde in Matthew’s eyewall. The central pressure continues to quickly drop as Matthew intensifies.

Watches and Warnings:

A hurricane watch has been issued for Jamaica. Winds of 75 mph or greater are possible on Monday, and tropical storm force winds may begin late Sunday.

A tropical storm warning continues for he northern coast of Colombia. Winds of 40 mph or greater are likely in northern Colombia on Friday evening.

A tropical storm watch has been issued for the southern coast of Haiti from the border of the Dominican Republic to Port-Au-Prince. Tropical storm force winds may begin there by late Sunday.

Forecast and Discussion:

Matthew may see some additional strengthening in the next 12 hours or so. It would not be surprising to see it reach category 5 status before a gradual weakening process begins. Matthew will interact with land and that lead to further weakening. Even with this forecast weakening, Matthew will still be a very dangerou hurricane and have major impacts for Jamaica, and Central/East Cuba!

Matthew is forecast to pass over Cube and emerge into the Bahamas as a strong hurricane. High winds, flooding, storm surge, and beach erosion will pound the islands from Tuesday into Wednesday.

The full extent of the impacts Matthew will have for the US are still unclear at this time. Ensemble model guidance widely varies on Matthew’s track this far out. Some have Matthew move north and then northeast staying well away off the East coast while others have Matthew making it into the Gulf of Mexico early next week. What we do know is that assuming matthew is still a strong hurricane by the time it reaches the Bahamas, we will likely see very high surf which brings the threat of beach erosion and rip currents. Coastal flooding may also be a significant impact even if Matthew remains a few hundred miles off shore. The exact track will depend on a few different factors

Is high pressure aloft still relatively strong? If so it COULD steer Matthew closer to the US
Will there be a dip in the Jet stream? If so it could push Matthew away from the US.
What is the forward speed of the storm and it’s relevance to the above mentioned factors?

So as you can see there are a lot of different scenarios that may happen and pinpointing an exact scenario this far out is impossible.

For now, all interests in the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Bahamas and U.S. East Coast should continue to monitor the progress of Matthew. Check back with us at ExtremeWeatherVideos.com and follow our Facebook page for further updates!

Major Hurricane Matthew Moving Through Caribbean!