Usercane Garfield

Usercane Garfield is one of the strongest usercanes to form in 2016, and was an very quickly intensifying storm. It became a category 2 merely 2 months after forming. The forecast models showed favorable conditions ahead of Garfield, and the storm became a major hurricane on September 17. As opposed to some models, Garfield intensified into a category 4 usercane on October 18.

Meteorological History
On July 6, a Tropical wave exited the coast of Africa. Initially slow to develop, the system developed a closed circulation, and became a TD that day. It quickly organized into Tropical Storm Garfield. While slow intensification was generally forecast, conditions ended up being much more favorable than expected, and Garfield became a hurricane fairly quickly. However, shortly after reaching hurricane status, saharan air temporarily got entrained in Garfield in late August, which kept it from gaining strength. However, as September rolled around, Garfield began a rapid intensification scheme, and developed strong banding. On September 18, Garfield became a major hurricane - only a little over two months after forming. As Garfield continued west, the eye became increasingly more defined. Recon jets flew in and found maximum sustained winds of 130 mph on October 18, and Garfield became a category 4 hurricane. Garfield slowly intensified throughout that time, encountering some light wind shear in December. Eventually, on March 7, 2017, Garfield was found to have attained category 5 status.

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