ORLANDO, Fla. — Hurricane Earl is moving slowly but is expected to keep strengthening throughout the week and possibly become this year’s first major hurricane reaching the strength of a Category 4 storm.
In its 2 p.m. EDT update on Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center said maximum sustained winds for Hurricane Earl have increased to about 85 mph and it is expected to become a major hurricane, with winds stronger than 125 mph, by the end of this week. A major hurricane is classified as a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds stronger than 110 mph. Earl strengthened into a hurricane Tuesday night.
Earl battled with vertical wind shear for much of Wednesday morning but appeared to be holding its structure together, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration P3 hurricane hunter aircraft.
At the present time, Earl has hurricane-force winds capable of reaching 40 miles from its center, and tropical storm-force winds reaching 140 miles from its center. The storm is located about 440 miles south of Bermuda, moving northward at about 8 mph, and is on track to pass to the southeast of Bermuda by Friday morning. The Bermuda Weather Service has issued a Tropical Storm Watch for the island.
Forecast models call for Earl to curve away from the mainland U.S. and into the northeast Atlantic. The storm is not expected to threaten Florida.
