> From the WeatherWatch archives
The first hurricane of the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season formed Monday night NZT. As of 9pm NZT Hurricane Bill was a category 1 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale (out of 5).
Bill is moving quickly west north west at 35km/h. His maximum sustained winds are 120km/h with gusts even higher. Much like Hurricane Andrew in 1992 Bill has formed around the same time and is expected to continue to strengthen – possibly becoming a major hurricane in a day or two.
Hurricane force winds extend 45kms from the centre.
Tropical storm winds extend 230km/h.
Hurricane Bill will pose a risk to the United States of America next week and the island nations between Florida and South America over the coming days.
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Before you add a new comment, take note this story was published on 17 Aug 2009.
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Guest on 17/08/2009 10:16am
Is the main system on the map on the link below bill?
https://www.fnmoc.navy.mil/wxmap_cgi/cgi-bin/wxmap_loop.cgi?area=ngp_troplant&prod=sfc10m&dtg=2009081706
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WW Forecast Team on 17/08/2009 11:13am
Yes, that’s Bill – as you can see Ana is ahead of him, falling apart. The models generally are picking Bill to sweep the east coast of America – but miss it. However hurricanes have a mind of their own which is why many will be watching this one closely. It’s worth pointing out that Ana was predicted to head north before Bermuda…she is no where near doing that now.
Cheers,
WeatherWatch
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