What Drove Dorian: Monster Hurricane Science
How the storm’s winds soared to 185 mph and why it stalled out and then finally weakened.
UPDATE Tuesday, September 4, 9:14 a.m. EST: What started out as a tropical storm of little consequence just over a week ago intensified rapidly late last week, became a monster Category 5 hurricane with top winds of 185 mph, then stalled out over the Bahamas and pummeled the islands for more than two days.
Dorian weakened and finally began moving again Tuesday, slowly inching its way toward the Southeast coast.
By Wednesday morning, Dorian’s top sustained winds had fallen to 105 mph—still a Category 2 hurricane—as it moved north-northwestward at about 8 mph. It is expected to turn to the north Wednesday evening.
“This is still a life-threatening situation,” the National Hurricane Center (NHC) stated in its morning update. “On this track, the core of Hurricane Dorian will move dangerously close to the Florida east coast and the Georgia coast through tonight. The center of Dorian is forecast to move near or over the coast of South Carolina and North Carolina Thursday through Friday morning.”
Dorian is expected to weaken further but remain a hurricane into Sunday. As it hugs the coast on a trajectory that’s now much more…
