Hurricane Bill Shifts Up Into Cat 4

For updates see Atlantic Hurricanes 2009

Bill strengthens into category 4 hurricane, eying top level

Hurricane Bill strengthened to a Cat 4 on Saffir-Simpson scale. Click image to enlarge and update. See also FEWW New Hurricane Scale.

[Meanwhile NASA’s MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center, is still measuring Bill as he was on August 17.]

NHC: Hurricane BILL Data  – Summary

5:00 AM AST Wed Aug 19 (9:00 UTC)
Location: 18.0°N 54.9°W
Max sustained:  215 km/h (135 mph)
Moving: WNW at 26 km/h (16 mph)
Min pressure: 71.1 cmHg (948 mb)

Hurricane Bill is expected to strengthen further, NHC said.  Adding that, bill will create large swells which would  impact the islands of  the northeast Caribbean sea in the next 48 hours. Bermuda and parts of  the SE coast of the US would be affected similarly, Friday and Saturday.

For background information,  details of Bill’s progress and additional images, see Atlantic Hurricanes 2009.

FEWW Comments: There’s a small probability of about 0.15  that Bill could move in a westerly direction toward the Gulf of Mexico, making his first landfall on the coast of Alabama.

Related Links:

• Bill a Major Hurricane, May Strengthen  Further
• Bill Becomes Hurricane, Strengthening

• Tropical Storm CLAUDETTE [Regular updates for CLAUDETTE are found in the comment section of the post]
  
• Meet Bill and Ana, 2009 First Named Storms [Regular updates for Bill and Ana are found in the comment section of the post]
• National Hurricane Center
• FEWW New Hurricane Scale