Hurricane Matthew remains at category 4 strength with sustained winds of 145 mph. The major hurricane is expected to shift northward later today.
Updated Saturday October 1st – 9:00pm (EDT)
Satellite imagery shows the storm has developed extremely well defined structure, as seen in satellite imagery. The Hurricane Hunters found winds of 160 mph on Friday evening, pushing the storm to category five major hurricane status. Today, the storms winds have only slightly decreased to 150 mph, making Matthew a category 4 major hurricane.
A Major Hurricane is defined as Category 3 or greater, with winds exceeding 110 mph. Hurricane Matthew is the first storm to reach this threshold since Hurricane Joaquin in October of 2015.
Forecast:
After it’s westward march on Friday, Matthew will make a large right turn later today. This northerly jog will push the storm just east of Jamaica and west of Haiti. After tracking in between the two islands, Matthew will make landfall in Cuba late Monday before entering the open Atlantic Ocean.
Matthew will continue to maintain a category 4 strength for the next 24 hours before it is predicted to slightly weakening to a category 3. It will then enter a region of higher wind shear, which will act to weaken the storm. Knowing this, Matthew will likely make landfall in Cuba as a Category 3 or low-end Category 4 hurricane. After entering the open Atlantic, many uncertainties exist with regard to storm track and intensity.
With these uncertainties after Cuba, Matthew’s impacts on the US mainland remain unclear. Matthew will undergo numerous changes as it interacts with the islands of the Greater Antilles. Early guidance suggests the storm will curve out to sea with minimal impacts to the US, but this forecast is subject to change.
Morecast meteorologists are closely monitoring the situation and will keep you up to date. For the latest breaking information be sure to follow along on our Twitter and Facebook pages.