On Wednesday October 11, Tropical storm Ophelia strengthened into hurricane according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) while on Thursday October 12 it reached category 2 storm with winds in excess of 100mph (161 km/h).
“Three days later, on Saturday October 14, Hurricane Ophelia strengthened off the Azores islands in the northern Atlantic Ocean and it passed to the south of the archipelago later that day before taking aim at the British Isles”, NHC said, adding that strengthening was possible over the next 48 hours.
Ophelia, rare for its location and a powerful Category 3 storm with top sustained winds of 114 mph (185 km/h), was the sixth major hurricane of the Atlantic season.
On its Twitter account NASA SPoRT ✔@NASA_SPoRT published:
The NHC expects a “gradual weakening” on Sunday, although Ophelia could “remain powerful over the next few days as it approaches Ireland.”
Ophelia is the tenth tropical storm to strengthen to a hurricane in the Atlantic, making of this year the first in more than a century in which ten Atlantic storms have reached hurricane strength consecutively.
On Twitter, the NHC issued an advisory saying Ophelia will likely bring direct impacts to Ireland and the UK as a post-tropical cyclone.
And as predicted, Ophelia strengthened developing wind gusts above 120 mph (187 km per hour), and hit the Irish coast where today Monday, October 16, there are already two people who unfortunately lost their lives because of this hurricane.
Ophelia (NASA)
Source: El Universal
