Hurricane Matthew, with 105 mph sustained winds, is now over the south-central Caribbean. It is expected to strengthen into a major hurricane today or tomorrow, and possibly make landfall somewhere on the East Coast around next Thursday. If it does, Matthew’s landfall would occur exactly 4,000 days after Major Hurricane Wilma’s landfall.
Hurricane Wilma, the last major hurricane (Cat 3 or stronger) to hit the U.S., struck Florida on October 24, 2005. Will Matthew arrive as the first major hurricane to strike the U.S. in almost 11 years? Only time will tell. (Sandy was Cat 1 at landfall, and technically not a hurricane at that time. Hurricane Ike, 2008, was a Cat 2.)
Here is the latest GFS model forecast for Matthew, midday Friday, Oct. 7 (graphics courtesy of Weatherbell.com):
