User blog:Hurricane Layten/Matthew making history and Nicole now a hurricane

Is blog post is primarily going to be about Hurricane Matthew, which is currently pounding the Bahama and Florida with category 4 hurricane conditions.

As we all know, Matthew has been under very close surveillance since it came into the high category for tropical cyclone formation. Matthew has relentlessly pounded land areas now since October 1, when it passed through the ABC islands as a category 5 hurricane.

Since Matthew cleared Haiti overnight, the death toll has rose from 23 to 108, and potentially hundreds of people are still missing. The NHC has been warning the areas at risk of its extreme dangers, which have repeatably been referred to as life threatening.

Tomorrow, Matthew will make landfall somewhere along the Atlantic Coast of Florida, wreaking even more chaos as it loops over the coast of the SE US.

At present, Matthew is very well organised, and is exhibiting a few chacteristics of an annular hurricane, with its pinhole eye surrounded by very cold rings of convection. Talking of organisation, and the recent radar images of Matthew are coming into the Miami radar station, which show very well defined banding features, and a very well defined core as the storm bears down.

Hurricane warnings have been issued for all of the SE US Coast, with the Carolinas being under watches as well. It's not only the tropical cyclone issues that need to be looked at carefully, but also the tornado threat as the stem moves ashore in the next 24 hours.

Matthew will be the first major hurcane in the US since the famed Wilma in 2005, and the strongest to make landfall since Charley in 2004, which hit with 150 mph winds on August 23.

In the Central Atlantic, Nicole has become the season's 6th hurricane, and some models even take it to category 3 intensity out in the open Atlantic, with a tropical storm threat for e Azores and Bermuda. The current intensity is estimated at 80 mph, with a 979 mbar pressure according to Tropical Tidbits.

Illmpost ain tomorrow evening on both of these storms, but until then, stay safe and keep tabs on these storms, especially Matthew.