Hurricane Earl (2016-Insane Version)

Hurricane Earl was the first Category 5 Atlantic hurricane since Felix in 2007. It was a relatively early major hurricane that formed just southwest of Cape Verde in early August 2016.

Meteorological History
On August 1, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) began monitoring a tropical wave over western Africa for possible tropical cyclogenesis in the coming days. On August 4, an area of low pressure began developing, and at 21:00 UTC on August 5, the NHC initiated advisories on Tropical Depression Five about 200 miles southwest of the Cape Verde Islands. 18 hours after formation, Five intensified into Tropical Storm Earl. Earl initially remained a weak tropical storm due to only marginally warm sea surface temperatures and some dry air entrainment with the Saharan Air Layer (SAL). These factors limited significant strengthening over the next few days. However, late on August 8, an eye began developing and, at 03:00 UTC on August 9, Earl was upgraded into a category 1 hurricane. Propelled on a direct westward track due to a strong Azores High, Earl continued to move briskly to the west on a path towards the Caribbean. The strong trade winds and moderate shear weakened Earl to a tropical storm later that same day. Earl regained hurricane intensity 12 hours later around the same time it entered the Caribbean Sea.

Entering the Caribbean, Earl entered more favorable conditions with moist air, very warm sea surface temperatures and an upper-level anticyclone developed atop the system. This resulted in favorable conditions which allowed Earl to intensify into a category 5 storm.