Hurricane Franklin has become a powerful category 4 storm with life-threatening surf and rip currents in Bermuda and along the Southeast coast of the United States. Photo courtesy of NOAA
Aug. 29 (UPI) — Franklin, the first major hurricane of the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season, remained a very powerful category 4 storm early Tuesday, with forecasters warning that it was producing life-threatening surf and rip currents in Bermuda and along the southeast coast of the United States.
In its 2 a.m. EDT update, the National Hurricane Center said the storm was located 405 miles west-southwest of Bermuda. It was carrying maximum sustained winds of 145 mph, making it a category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.
Franklin was moving north at 9 mph.
Forecasters predict Franklin will continue to strengthen overnight before gradually starting to weaken Tuesday afternoon.
A tropical storm watch was in effect for Bermuda, meaning tropical storm conditions are possible for the area within 48 hours. The center of Franklin is expected to pass well to the west of Bermuda on Wednesday.
Life-threatening surf and rip currents generated by the storm had already begun to impact the British island territory and the coast of southeast United States, the NHC said, while warning that the conditions were expected to spread northward along the U.S. east coast and Atlantic Canada over the next few days.
As Franklin was heading toward Bermuda on Monday, Tropical Storm Idalia was heading for Florida where it is forecast to hit Wednesday as a hurricane.
