Monster Hurricane Ophelia expected to fizzle before hitting Canada
Rapidly strengthening over the past 18 hours Hurricane Ophelia is now a category 2 status with winds near 105 mph. There is a strong possibility that Ophelia will strengthen further until its path takes the storm over cooler sea surface temperatures to the north in the next few days. This image was taken by Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites East Friday, Sept. 30, 2011.
October 2, 2011
Hurricane Ophelia was a raging Category 3 storm as it churned toward Canada Sunday, but forecasters predicted it would weaken considerably before making landfall.
Ophelia had maximum sustained winds of 125 mph and was moving at 30 mph Sunday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
The storm is predicted to turn toward the northeast, sparing the East Coast of the United States before moving over or near Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula Monday as a much weaker storm, the hurricane center said.
Ophelia was located 760 miles southwest of Cape Race, Newfoundland Sunday morning.
The Canadian province should see “tropical-storm-force winds” early Monday, it said.
The fast-traveling hurricane moved within 235 miles of Bermuda before shifting direction to the north, leaving the island group safely out of its direct path, the hurricane center said. It was expected to cause dangerous surf conditions in Bermuda.
A second system, Tropical Storm Philippe, is east-southeast of Bermuda and not threatening land, according to the hurricane center. It is predicted to take a more westerly course.
