WeatherFanatics: Hurricane Edouard to Send Rough Surf to US East Coast

Monday, September 15, 2014

Hurricane Edouard to Send Rough Surf to US East Coast

By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

September 15,2014; 9:10PM,EDT

After several days of being at tropical storm status, Edouard strengthened into a hurricane late Sunday morning.
While Edouard will stay thousands of miles away from the Atlantic coast of the United States, waves produced by the storm at sea are heading westward.
According to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Kristina Pydynowski, "By the middle of this week, bathers should expect rough surf conditions with the danger of strong and frequent rip currents from Cape Cod to northeastern Florida."
Surf conditions may stay locally rough into the coming weekend. Because of the time of year, many lifeguards are not on duty. Bathers should use extra caution.

This animated gif shows Edouard slowly spinning over the central Atlantic. (NOAA/Satellite)
With this status upgrade, Edouard now becomes the fourth hurricane of the 2014 Atlantic season.
Prior to Thursday, there have been five tropical depressions with three moving on to become hurricanes (Arthur, Bertha and Cristobal) and one becoming a tropical storm (Dolly). Edouard now joins the ranks of those that have reached hurricane status.
Edouard started out as tropical depression five but took on the name Edouard early Thursday night.
Additional strengthening is possible as Edouard continues to move over warm seas. Wind shear will lessen over the course of the next few days which will allow the system to maintain its structure.
A pocket of dry air surrounding the system will be the only limiting factor through the middle of the week and will keep the system from rapidly strengthening. Instead, further development will be more gradual.
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Edouard is forecast to take a curved path over the central Atlantic, well away from land areas.
According to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Bob Smerbeck, Edouard will re-curve a couple hundred miles east of Bermuda.
However, people in Bermuda should continue to monitor Edouard as rough surf is expected to impact the island.
Folks in the Azores will want to keep a close on this system as well but the system will be weakening as it heads that way.
"Edouard will move across the cooler waters of the northern Atlantic midweek and then it will begin to weaken and transition into a non-tropical system," said Smerbeck.

Over in the eastern Pacific, Hurricane Odile is impacting Baja California. Odile is forecast to take a path paralleling the west coast of Mexico and is likely to bring another round of drenching showers and thunderstorms into the southwestern U.S. this week. There is a chance the drenching rain will reach Southern California, including coastal areas.
AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Jordan Root contributed to this story.

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