Northern Most Hurricane EVER!

Hurricane Joaquin is still churning out in the open Atlantic more than 14 days since it become a tropical depression on September 28th in the Caribbean.

The official track from the NHC has it sustaining tropical characteristics through the upcoming weekend as it tracks as it approaches Europe.

This had me wondering what the furthest NORTH any hurricane has traveled. The award goes to Hurricane Faith in 1966. This system started out off the coast of western Africa, headed toward the Caribbean then north off the coast of the U.S. then out to sea. It lasted 26 days and traveled more than 6800 miles. 

What I find fascinating is that according to the official track data (wind, position and date) it held hurricane strength over incredibly cold water. The hurricane crossed into water below 20 degrees Celsius off the coast of Nova Scotia yet it stayed at category 2 strength for another two and a half days.

WATER TEMPERATURE IN CELSIUS

The storm didn't officially weaken until it reached the north of Great Britain where the water temperatures dropped to between 10 and 12 degrees Celsius. The "X" marks the approximate location where Hurricane faith was downgraded to a tropical storm....yet it continued as an extra tropical storm/low into Scandinavia for another week!

The National Hurricane Center has a great summary on the hurricane season that year. They show a  map of Faith denoting its movement into the arctic north of the Arctic Circle into the Soviet Union then north into the Barents Sea where water temperatures were barely above freezing.

Air temperatures were in the 30s and 40s.

It finally ended its journey over an uninhabited island chain north of the Arctic Circle around 600 miles from the North Pole.

Hurricane Arthur Getting Closer To The Coast

Hurricane Arthur was upgraded from a tropical storm at 5AM EDT on Thursday.  Hurricane warnings are up for the entire North Carolina coastline north to the Virginia border. Max winds are 90 mph; should reach Category 2 intensity early 4th of July morning with winds of 105 mph. Arthur is still 200 mph SW of Cape Hatteras moving NNE at 10-15 mph.

Its interesting to see how Arthur evolved from a disturbance over South Carolina, sliding southeast over the ocean then doubling back north off the coast of Florida over the last 5 days.

Most models take the center of Arthur over the Outer Banks. The HRRR shows it shifting track to the northeast hugging the coast later today.

The National Weather Service office in Morehead, North Carolina has an excellent discussion on the hurricane with wind and wave forecasts. Winds will increase rapidly Thursday evening with max gusts approaching 100 in local areas along the Outer Banks. The window for 80-100 mph will be around 12 hours.

Total rainfall could exceed 7 inches in many areas.

Wave forecast calls for 10-18 foot waves early Friday morning.