Hurricane Franklin’s Intensity Increases Across The Western Atlantic

Tropical Storm Franklin formed in the east-central Caribbean on the afternoon of August 20 and moved generally westward for two days before striking the Dominican Republic's southern coast south of Barahona on the morning of August 23 as a moderate tropical storm with sustained winds of 50 mph, according to the National Hurricane Centre (NHC).

Franklin continued to build into a Category 2 hurricane on August 27 as it began to re-curve northward, far southwest of Bermuda and well east of the northern Bahamas and the east coast of Florida. On the morning of August 28, Franklin attained Category 3 strength, becoming the season's first major hurricane. Franklin, however, did not stop intensifying and quickly intensified into a Category 4 storm, with sustained winds of 145 mph recorded by the NHC at 9:00 a.m. EDT, when it was approximately 485 miles southwest of Bermuda. Franklin maintained this strength for the most of the day as it headed straight north, peaking at 8:00 p.m. EDT with sustained winds of 150 mph.

Credit: NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio