Hurricane Katia Projected Path to Skip East Coast

By Emma Koonse, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Hurricane Katia has become a Category 3 storm according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center Tuesday, and is expected to veer away from the East Coast.

Katia, the second major storm of the June-November Atlantic hurricane season, has kept forecasters on edge while trying to predict its landfall along the East Coast, which was recently ravaged by Hurricane Irene.

The Miami-based center said the Eastern seaboard should still be weary of Katia this week, which could create life-threatening swells and rip currents along the coast.

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Robbie Berg, a hurricane specialist at the NHC, spoke with Reuters warning of the dangers the storm could have on the coast.

“Even though these storms may stay offshore, they still can be a deadly threat, especially to people going to the beach,” said Berg. “It may be a beautiful nice day out and you may just not know that there are rip currents there that can pull you out to sea.”

Tuesday, Katia’s winds reached 115 miles per hour, following a northwestward path over the ocean between Bermuda and the Caribbean, the NHC said. The storm briefly reached a Category 4 system, but the hurricane center says that its strength will fluctuate over the next 24 hours.

Last week Hurricane Irene affected the East Coast from the Carolinas to Maine, causing extensive damage in Vermont and New Jersey, and killing at least 40 people.

Berg reported that the latest five-day forecast for Katia puts the storm north and then northeastward in between Bermuda and the U.S. mainland, and away from the East Coast by a developing low pressure trough.

“The steering flow right now is pushing the storm to the northwest but once it gets closer to the East Coast, it’ll start feeling the effects of that trough a little bit more, and it’s going to make that sharp turn around the Bermuda High and head out northeastward over the open Atlantic,” said Berg.

The Bermuda High is the ridge of high pressure in the central Atlantic.

Hurricane Katia could affect the Greater Antilles Islands, the Bahamas, Bermuda, and the East Coast, as it is centered about 365 miles south-southwest of Bermuda and moving northwest, according to the Associated Press.

Forecasters estimate that there will be a higher than normal number of hurricanes this year, with between 8 to 10 hurricanes this 2011 Atlantic season. Usually the average is 6 to 10 hurricanes from June to November.