Weather, Storms & Hurricane Blog

Hurricane Felix Now A Major Hurricane - 125mph -Cat 3

Hurricane Felix is officially a category 3 hurricane now with winds of 125mph and a pressure of 964mb. Excellent satellite presentation with a impressive eye as seen in this hurricane Felix satellite picture. This storm really ramped up over a short period of time

 Update - 10:11am ET Winds Now 105mph

Hurricane Felix is defiantly moving more west-northwest now. Nice visible eye has developed and is already located a little on the north side of the current NHC forecast track. The overall structure of the hurricane continues to improve and it’s beginning to look more like a major hurricane now. Very small 25nm eye is now visible and making it a lot easier to track the center of circulation. Felix will likely be a major later today or tonight while tracking into the central Caribbean and away from the Netherland Antilles.

 Impressive Strengthening Overnight Now Category 2

Hurricane Felix is on his way to becoming a major hurricane soon as he strengthened impressively overnight to a 100mph hurricane. Strengthening is forecast to continue throughout today and Felix will likely reach major hurricane status sometime in the next 24 hours or so. Felix is a compact small hurricane, but now packing some mean winds near his core of circulation. The central pressure recently records by a recon flight was 984mb, and this is a nice drop in pressure from last nights updates.

Tracking Felix By Satellite Imagery Loops

Overnight satellite presentations showed some slight restriction of the outflow on the western side of Felix, but has since then improved once again. Felix remains on a just north of due west track along the southern Caribbean and now just passing north of the ABC islands (Netherland Antilles). The islands will likely not see the worst of the winds as the wind swath field of Felix’s hurricane force winds is about 15-20 miles wide from the center, and as like I said before, he’s a compact hurricane. The wind field will likely expand as Felix continues to strengthen and get closer to the western Caribbean Sea and central America.

Computer Track Forecast Models Plots

The track models are in pretty good agreement with Felix tracking into the western Caribbean and the possibility of affecting as far south as Nicaragua. Right now though, the best track guidance brings the major hurricane brushing close to the coast of Honduras and surrounding islands, possibly through the ISLAS DE LA BAHIA, and then into Belize (map) near Belize City. It’s all up to the strength and location of the ridge of high pressure north of Hurricane Felix. Some of the models break down the ridge faster than other allowing Felix to turn more northwest towards the end of the forecast. It’s a tad too early to fine tune the possible track location for Tuesday-Wednesday, but one things for sure, there will likely be a dangerous major hurricane over the far western Caribbean in the coming days.

We have a few days of watching Felix organize more and likely strengthen into a mean hurricane and head for the western Caribbean. Late Monday we should have a better handle on the track forecast and who might encounter the core winds of Felix in central America and possibly the Yucatan.

Stay tuned to this hurricane blog for full coverage with possible pictures and video in the coming days.

Related Caribbean Hurricane Posts:

• Hurricane Dean Live Intercept Chase - Kingston Jamaica
• Hurricane Dean Aftermath Video and Pictures Jamaica
• Hurricane Dean Strike The Yucatan As A Category 5 Hurricane

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