Hurricane Warnings for Haiti, Jamaica as Category 4 Matthew Restrengthens

Despite its unorthodox structure, Hurricane Matthew remains a formidable hurricane in the southern Caribbean Sea and an increasing threat to parts of Haiti, Jamaica, and Cuba.

Matthew briefly attained Category 5 intensity late Friday, when its top sustained winds hit 160 mph--only 36 hours after Matthew was still a tropical storm. By early Saturday afternoon, Matthew’s peak winds had decreased to 140 mph, but they have since resurged to 150 mph as of the 5 pm EDT advisory from the National Hurricane Center. Matthew is now a high-end Category 4 hurricane.

As noted by Jeff Masters in our morning post, only a few hurricanes in the Atlantic have bolted from tropical storm to Cat 5 intensity in less than two days. Hurricane Wilma of 2005 and Hurricane Patricia of 2015 accomplished the feat in 24 hours; Hurricane Felix of 2007 did it in 30 hours; Hurricane Rita of 2005 and Hurricane Andrew of 1992 did it in 36 hours; and the Great Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 did so in 42 hours.

Read the Wunderblog story - “Hurricane Warnings for Haiti, Jamaica as Category 4 Matthew Restrengthens.”