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Igor Batters Bermuda

Posted by Andy Johnson under Daily updates

The center of the eye of Hurricane Igor passed about 40 miles to the west of Bermuda at approximately 11PM EDT, September 19, 2010. Igor’s large circulation, however, still caused hurricane force gusts on Bermuda. At about 10:42 PM EDT, September 19, 2010, sustained winds were measured at 74 MPH with gusts to 93 MPH at the official weather station on the island. Huge waves rolled over beaches on the island especially on south facing shores.  Sustained tropical storm force winds (39MPH or greater) started at 9:34 AM EDT, September 19 and were still sustained at tropical storm force as I am writing at 9:00 AM EDT, September 20. Sustained gale force winds for more than 24 hours is a rare event at coastal sites in the tropics and subtropics.

The microwave image below was taken from the AQUA-1 satellite showing rain areas with Igor at 1:49 AM EDT, September 20, 2010.  At that point in time the eye was northwest of Bermuda and beginning to move away. So, Igor will not be considered as having made a direct strike with landfall on Bermuda even though winds gusts to hurricane force occurred.

The image below was taken from the ground based radar in Bermuda at 8:00 AM EDT, September 20, 2010 as the center of Hurricane Igor was about 200 miles north of Bermuda. Squalls can still be seen rotating from west to east across the island.

 The table of observations below is courtesy the Bermuda Weather Service Office. The lowest pressure of 29.49″ occurred at 11:55 PM (local Bermuda time), September 19, 2010.  The maximum wind gust of 93 MPH occurred at 11:22 PM (local Bermuda time), September 19, 2010.

The enhanced satellite image below shows that the heaviest convection is on the northeast side of the hurricane. Bermuda was in the northeast quadrant of the hurricane as Igor was making its closest approach to the island.  Surprisingly, Julia flared up on the morning of September 20th and increased from a 40 MPH tropical storm to 45 MPH even over colder water and the influence of shear from Igor. Julia will eventually be absorbed into Igor within the next day or two.

Huge waves are being generated all along the eastern seaboard and the western Atlantic. At 8AM EDT, September 20 the waves heights shown below ranged as high as 22.3′ at a buoy west of Bermuda. Even along the east coast of Florida waves were higher than 10′ just offshore.

Invest 94L has shown an increase in convection this morning and is likely to develop into a tropical storm in the next day or so. Another strong wave is just moving off of Africa. Another tropical wave has flared up in the eastern Caribbean. There is concern in the long range (the first week in October) of the eventual movement of this system into the Gulf or possibly affecting Florida and the other southeastern states along the Atlantic coast.

The GFS model shown below is valid for Saturday September 25 , 2010  at 8:00 PM. It suggests a tropical cyclone brewing in the SW Caribbean and another to the east of the Caribbean. The next names on the list are Lisa and Matthew. Which ever system becomes a tropical storm first will be given the name Lisa.