On Wednesday morning, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) has upgraded Hurricane Dolores to a Category Four Hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale.

Dolores was earlier forecast to slowly strengthen into a borderline Category Three storm.  Dolores’ forward motion has been slower than expected, which kept it over warm sea-surface temperatures in excess of 75 degrees Fahrenheit. The hurricane is in an extremely low-shear environment with very light 500 mb winds. Dolores has a very symmetrical presentation on IR imagery which allows the system to exhaust air out equally in all directions.

All of this means, that for this moment, Dolores is in the perfect environment for intense growth. But the good times won’t last for long.

Dolores is forecast to move over cooler waters and weaken rapidly into a tropical storm. Despite their large, ferocious power, tropical systems often fall apart quickly at the slightest bit of adversity, and fortunately, Dolores will encounter that adversity before making any kind of landfall in the next five days.

Source link | For WeatherNation: Meteorologist, Jason Cerjak