Gaston Now a Hurricane in the Central Atlantic; Forecast to Intensify Even More

August 27,2016
Now Hurricane Gaston is poised for a second, more long-lived stint as a hurricane this weekend in the central Atlantic Ocean.
Hammered by wind shear since early Thursday, Gaston's environment has become slightly better, allowing it to potentially become the strongest hurricane of the 2016 Atlantic hurricane season.
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Latest Status and Forecast

Gaston was centered a little more than 650 miles east-southeast of Bermuda, as of Saturday evening, moving northwest at about 8 mph.

Current Storm Status

Improving conditions plus rather warm central Atlantic water is expected to fuel a restrengthening of Gaston this weekend.
In fact, Gaston may eventually intensify to major hurricane status ( Category 3 intensity), which would be the first of the Atlantic season.
Despite that, the atmospheric steering pattern in the Atlantic Ocean suggests Gaston will continue to be drawn northwest into the central Atlantic Ocean, then veer northeast once caught by the jet stream.
(MAP: Interactive Forecast Path)

Projected Path

While over 1,000 miles off the East Coast, Gaston is also likely to generate swells that will reach the East Coast Monday and Tuesday. Dangerous rip currents are possible.
Interestingly, just after midnight Thursday morning, a late-night flight of the NASA Global Hawk hurricane drone measured 75 mph winds, pushing Gaston to its brief hurricane status at that time.
We're now headed into, climatologically, the most active time of the Atlantic hurricane season.
(MORE: When Atlantic Season Peak Arrives)

Typical tropical storm and hurricane origin areas and tracks in August. This is **not** a forecast for this current system, merely a representation of August climatology.

This time of year, tropical waves, also known as African easterly waves, line up over Africa south of the Sahara Desert and emerge into the eastern Atlantic Ocean.
A fraction of these tropical waves serve as the seed for an Atlantic Basin tropical storm or hurricane each season.
While this system isn't a threat, now is a good time to make sure you have a plan before a hurricane hits.
MORE: Images of Hurricane Eyes