Is Hurricane Nicole Bermuda's worst hurricane ever?

UPDATE 10/19: It is now believed that Nicole did less damage than Hurricane Fabian for two reasons -- Nicole was weakening faster than Fabian, and Nicole's entire eye passed over Bermuda, not just the unrelenting eyewall with high winds.

UPDATE 11:30 AM ET: Did Hurricane Nicole make landfall? The NHC isn't saying. They are saying "the eye passed over" but they are not using the word "landfall." Remember that satellites are skewed at this longitude, and the radar was not clear. There was a swirl on the right hand side of the island, which pivoted back into land, and the wind barbs reflected that, but what we really need is the velocity radar data to make the determination. Unfortunately, there's no archive of that online and the current images are only available via a Java Applet.

UPDATE: 11:00 AM ET: Here's a look at the wind graph from Pearl Island (see gusts below):

UPDATE: 10:30 AM ET: The eye of the storm is now starting to encompass the island.

UPDATE: 10:00 AM ET: The eyewall is passing over the island now. Wind gusts include 119 mph at Pearl Island, 122 mph at Commissioner's Point, 123 mph at the Mid-Ocean Club.

I said last night on Twitter: "Bermuda, I hope you're ready for Hurricane Nicole."

She was a Category 2 then. Overnight, she became a Category 4 hurricane. No Category 4 storm has ever struck the island nation, and only three Category 3 storms have gotten close since 1950:

Bermuda has had dozens of hurricanes pass near them before, and (like Guam with typhoons) the construction and trees are fortified enough to stand up to a Category 2 storm. Beyond that, they could take on some significant damage, and they may today.

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