Gaston ‘Not A Threat To Bermuda At This Time’
[Updated] Hurricane Gaston — the seventh named storm of the 2016 Atlantic hurricane season – is “not a threat to Bermuda at this time”, and its closest point of approach to the island within 72 hrs is forecast to be 475nm to the east-south-east at 6.00am on Sunday [August 28], the Bermuda Weather Service said this morning.
Graphic courtesy of the BWS:
The latest forecast from the U.S. National Hurricane Center says, “At 5:00am AST, the center of Hurricane Gaston was located near latitude 19.5 North, longitude 43.3 West.
“Gaston is moving toward the northwest near 17 mph [28 km/h], and this general motion is expected to continue through Friday. A turn toward the west-northwest is forecast Friday night.
“Data from a NASA/NOAA Global Hawk unmanned aircraft indicate that maximum sustained winds are near 75 mph [120 km/h] with higher gusts. Some weakening is forecast during the next day or so.
“Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 25 miles [35 km] from the center, and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 90 miles [150 km].
“The estimated minimum central pressure from the aircraft data is 988 mb [29.18 inches].”
Graphic courtesy of the NHC:
Update 11.43am: The NHC has downgraded Gaston back to a Tropical Storm, and said, “Maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 70 mph [110 km/h]
with higher gusts, and some additional weakening is possible today.
“However, some re-strengthening is expected to begin Friday night, and Gaston could become a hurricane again on Saturday.”
