While most of the attention is focused on Hurricane Earl, tropical storms Fiona and Gaston (and a strong tropical wave off Africa) complete the tropical parade in the Atlantic.
As of 12:00 UTC, Hurricane Earl was located about 355 miles (575km) south of Cape Hatteras. Earl has maximum sustained winds of 145mph (230kph) as it tracks NNW at 18mph (30kph). Its minimum central pressure is around 932mb. Earl remains a dangerous Category 4 hurricane as satellite imagery continues to show deep convection and a uniform central dense overcast surrounding a well-defined eye. Earl is moving nearly due north now but over the next 6-12 hours there should continue to be at least some westward drift to Earl’s track as well. This will bring the eye along or just west of 75°W later today and then the storm will move northward parallel to 75°W before eventually making a turn off to the northeast late tonight into Friday. As Earl accelerates off to the northeast Friday and Friday night, near hurricane force winds will impact Cape Cod and the nearby islands as the eye passes less than 50 miles off to the southeast of Cape Cod Friday night before slamming into Nova Scotia on Saturday. The analogs for Earl are Hurricane Edna and Hurricane Able.
Tropical Storm Fiona continues to move quickly off to the northwest at 17mph (28kph) away from the northern Leeward Islands. As of 12:00 UTC, Fiona was centered about 600 miles (960km) south of Bermuda. Maximum sustained winds remain near 50mph (85kph) with higher gusts. The minimum central pressure in Fiona is 1000mb. A general track to the northwest should continue over the next 24-36 hours before Fiona makes a more northward turn Friday or Friday night, approaching Bermuda by Friday night and Saturday. Fiona will be fighting through hostile shear so any further strengthening should be slow.
Tropical Storm Gaston is in the far eastern Atlantic and will be no threat to land through at least Monday. The tropical storm was located about 1550 miles (2495km) east of the Lesser Antilles. Maximum sustained winds are estimated to be near 40mph (65 kph) and the estimated minimum central pressure is 1005mb. Gaston is moving to the west at 9mph (15kph). Gaston should continue to slowly intensify during the next few days and could become a hurricane early next week. A few hundred miles east-southeast of the southernmost Cape Verde islands there are showers and thunderstorms associated with a vigorous tropical wave. Development is expected in the next couple of days and eventually tropical storm Hermine will form. (Source: Accuweather)