Hurricane Imelda sweeps across Bermuda immediately after Humberto
Back-to-back hurricanes threaten Bermuda as Imelda follows closely behind Humberto, bringing stronger winds, heavy rain, and dangerous seas just hours apart.
AccuWeather’s Leslie Hudson reported live this morning from Brevard County, Florida, providing updates on how Tropical Storms Imelda and Humberto are affecting the cruise industry.
After Bermuda endured wind, rain and rough seas from Hurricane Humberto, a second tropical threat rapidly approached. The eye of Hurricane Imelda passed just to the south of the islands Wednesday night.
A glancing blow from a once Category 5 Hurricane Humberto
Humberto was cruising waters several hundred miles to the west and north of Bermuda earlier this week, but in a substantially reduced wind intensity than what it once was. This past weekend, Humberto peaked as a 160-mph Category 5 hurricane. As of Thursday morning, Humberto was a 70-mph tropical wind and rainstorm.
Humberto brought 1-2 inches of rain on the islands between Monday and Tuesday night.
Seas outside Bermuda's protective reefs, in the vicinity of the former Category 5 hurricane, will be monstrous and top 40 feet. Small recreational craft and fishing vessels are likely to remain in port due to hazardous conditions. Larger vessels may need to reroute to avoid damaging seas.
Hurricane Imelda brings strong winds, rough seas to Bermuda
Hurricane Imelda strengthened to a Category 2 hurricane early Wednesday, but has lost wind intensity and became a Category 1 hurricane Wednesday night once the storm passed by Bermuda.
Imelda is now to the east of the islands as a tropical wind and rainstorm, and direct impacts to Bermuda have ceased. As the storm passed, winds gusted to 100 mph.
Imelda's close encounter with Bermuda will continue to generate very rough seas, hazardous surf and overwash in low-lying roads.
"Since 1850, 130 tropical storms have come within 100 miles of the Bermuda archipelago, but only 11 have made landfall," according to AccuWeather Meteorologist and Social Media Producer Jesse Ferrell. "In September 2014, Hurricanes Fay and Gonzalo made landfall in Bermuda, the first time since 1850 that two storms had done so in the same season."
In September 2020, Category 2 Hurricane Paulette became the first hurricane to make landfall in Bermuda since Hurricane Gonzalo.
Based on gusty winds, flooding rainfall, and economic disruption, Hurricane Imelda had a RealImpact™ of 2 in Bermuda on the AccuWeather RealImpact™ Scale for Hurricanes, which ranges from less than 1 to 5.
Beyond Bermuda, Humberto is forecast to roll ashore in the United Kingdom before the end of the week. Before reaching the U.K., Humberto transitioned to a tropical wind and rainstorm, but a powerful one at that. Damaging winds and flooding rain are forecast for the British Isles, with strong wind gusts and downpours reaching the European mainland and part of Scandinavia. This storm is designated as Storm Amy by the Met Office.
Imelda will also track over the North Atlantic. Depending on Imelda’s structural integrity and atmospheric interactions, it may be absorbed by a non-tropical system and may pass over Iceland late this weekend to early next week with some wind and rain.
Elsewhere in the tropics, AccuWeather's team of hurricane experts led by Lead Hurricane Expert Alex DaSilva will continue to monitor multiple tropical waves emerging from the west coast of Africa for signs of development that could impact Bermuda or the eastern Caribbean.
Concerns will build closer to Central America and the U.S. over the next few weeks, with possible tropical development in the Gulf, western Caribbean, or southwest Atlantic.
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