Hurricane Humberto nears East Coast as threat from double storm looms

"Humberto has surged into a hurricane that's rapidly approaching the East Coast as forecasters warn it could soon be joined by another tropical cyclone. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) announced that Humberto became a Category 1 storm Friday morning around 5am ET, carrying sustained winds of more than 75 mph. Updated forecasts now show Humberto will reach major hurricane status by Saturday afternoon, quickly building into a Category 3 storm with winds exceeding 110 mph."

"It's projected to hold that strength until and least Tuesday as it nears the mid-Atlantic states, including South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia. The latest spaghetti models largely predict that Hurricane Humberto will spin away from the US before making landfall however, a small number of tracks warn that a direct hit in North Carolina, Virginia, or Maryland is still possible. Meanwhile, the course of Humberto could soon be completely changed by the presence of a second major storm developing closer to Florida."

"A second tropical cyclone is likely to form within the next two days, which would be called 'Imelda,' the ninth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. Meteorologists are on high alert that these two massive storms could merge and form an even larger hurricane as they near each other off the East Coast. Currently dubbed Invest 94L, the storm system is developing in the Caribbean, between Cuba and the Dominican Republic."

Humberto intensified into a hurricane with sustained winds over 75 mph and is forecast to become a Category 3 storm with winds exceeding 110 mph by Saturday. Humberto is expected to maintain major-hurricane strength through at least Tuesday as it approaches mid-Atlantic states including South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia. Most model tracks show Humberto staying offshore, but some tracks allow for a direct hit in North Carolina, Virginia, or Maryland. Invest 94L in the Caribbean has an 80-percent chance of becoming Tropical Storm Imelda and could make landfall in Florida, Georgia, or the Carolinas, with potential merging that could increase storm impacts and cause severe flooding in parts of the East Coast.

Read at Mail Online