Hurricane Gert Far at Sea; On Course to Pass Bermuda
Far out to sea, Hurricane Gert lost power slightly Thursday, with winds dropping to 135 mph, and forecasters said it was on a course to curve past Bermuda and stay away from the East Coast.
At 11 p.m. EDT, Gert, the fourth Category 4 hurricane of the Atlantic season, was about 1,095 miles south-southeast of Bermuda, heading west-northwest at 10 mph. Earlier in the day, its sustained wind was 145 mph.
“The threat to the Caribbean islands is lessening,” said Todd Kimberlain, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. “We don’t want to write the storm off entirely, but the fact that it’s gaining latitude is encouraging.”
He said it could become a threat to Bermuda late in the weekend.
The hurricane was about 400 miles wide with a distinct eye and could widen as the storm enters the same atmospheric conditions of weak upper-level winds and warm ocean temperatures that produced Hurricane Floyd’s huge proportions, said National Hurricane Center meteorologist Chris Robbins.
“Gert could become a very Floyd-like hurricane,” he said.
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