Hurricane Nigel may become 2023′s next major hurricane
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Hurricane Nigel may become 2023′s next major hurricane

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There’s a new hurricane in the Atlantic, and it could strengthen to a major hurricane soon.

The National Hurricane Center upgraded Nigel to a hurricane Monday morning. Forecasters said it was getting better organized “in a hurry” and said it could rapidly strengthen into a Category 3 storm by tomorrow.

Nigel is the sixth hurricane of 2023. There have already been three major hurricanes, Franklin, Idalia (which hit Florida as a Category 3) and Lee, which peaked as a Category 5 storm with 165 mph winds.

Nigel is far away from the U.S. in the central Atlantic, and the hurricane center thinks it will stay there and safely away from land. The forecast path turns Nigel to the east before it reaches Bermuda and then sends it northeastward for the rest of its days. It is also forecast to stay north of the Azores.

As of the last update, at 4 a.m. CDT Monday, Hurricane Nigel was located 935 miles east-southeast of Bermuda and was tracking to the northwest at 12 mph.

Hurricane Nigel is no threat to the U.S.

Nigel had 80 mph winds, making it a Category 1 hurricane.

Forecasters expect Nigel to rapidly strengthen into a Category 3 hurricane on Tuesday. The hurricane center’s intensity forecast suggests Nigel could peak as a strong Category 3 hurricane with top winds of 120 mph in about 36 hours. Forecasters said a gradual weakening trend should begin on Wednesday.

ELSEWHERE IN THE ATLANTIC

The hurricane center was also tracking two other areas of potential development, and one was near the U.S. coast.

Forecasters said a non-tropical area of low pressure is expected to form near the Southeast U.S. Atlantic coast later this week. If it stays offshore it as a low chance (30 percent) of developing into a subtropical system. It is expected to track to the north or northwest this week.

Another system farther to the east could become the next tropical depression soon. The hurricane center said a tropical wave could move off Africa’s west coast by Wednesday and organize into a tropical depression by the end of the week. The system is expected to be in the eastern or central tropical Atlantic at that time.

So it’s too soon to say if it could affect the Caribbean or eventually the U.S.

That system had a 70 percent probability of becoming a tropical depression in the next seven days.