Fiona on track to hit Cat-4 status, could veer north after island hits

Tropical storm Fiona morphed into the season's third Atlantic hurricane over the weekend, hitting category three status overnight and expected to strengthen further in the coming days, albeit amid hopes it will turn north and avoid a US landfall.

“Intensity guidance indicates that warm water and a moist atmosphere should allow for continued intensification during the next 24 to 48 hours,” forecasters at the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) wrote in their latest commentary.

Fiona should hit category 4 status “in a day or so”. Maximum sustained windspeeds of 110 MPH should accelerate to a peak of 140 MPH peak within 36 hours and hold that level for the following 24 hours, the NHC indicated.

Fiona, which passed just south of Puerto Rico overnight Sunday triggering reports of intense flooding and power outages, clipped the east of the Dominican Republic and moved north, with the Turks and Caicos islands in its sights.

Fiona is moving toward the north-northwest near at near 10 mph (17 km/h) and should continue the path for Tuesday (September 20). She may turn north Tuesday night or Wednesday (September 21).

As of 6:00 UTC, the NHC had issued hurricane warnings for the Caribbean islands of Turks and Caicos, a hurricane watch for the Dominican Republic coast from Cabo Caucedo to Puerto Plata and tropical storm warnings for the south-eastern Bahamas.

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