Hurricane Matthew barrels through the Caribbean

NOAA’s GOES-East satellite captured an image of Hurricane Matthew in the central Caribbean Sea early on Oct. 2.

On Oct. 2, many watches and warnings were in effect as Matthew moves to the northwest. A Hurricane Warning is in effect for Jamaica, Haiti, the Cuban provinces of Guantanamo, Santiago de Cuba, Holguin, Granma, and Las Tunas. A Hurricane Watch is in effect for Cuban province of Camaguey;  Southeastern Bahamas, including the Inaguas, Mayaguana, Acklins, Crooked Island, Long Cay, and Ragged Island and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the Dominican Republic from Barahona westward to the border with Haiti. A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for the Dominican Republic from Puerto Plata westward to the border with Haiti.

The NASA/NOAA GOES Project at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland created an image of Hurricane Matthew. The image showed a small eye surrounded by bands of powerful thunderstorms wrapping around it. The image also revealed powerful thunderstorms in fragmented bands on the western and eastern side of the storm.

At 8 a.m. EDT (1200 UTC), the center of Hurricane Matthew was located near latitude 14.1 North, longitude 74.3 West.  Matthew is moving toward the northwest near 5 mph (7 kph).  This general motion is expected to continue today, followed by a turn toward the north tonight.  On the forecast track, the center of Matthew will approach southwestern Haiti and Jamaica on Monday, Oct. 4

NOAA’s National Hurricane Center (NHC) said, Matthew’s maximum sustained winds were near 150 mph (240 kph) with higher gusts.  Matthew is a category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.  Some fluctuations in intensity are possible during the next couple of days, but Matthew is expected to remain a powerful hurricane through Monday night.

For updated forecasts, visit the NHC website: www.nhc.noaa.gov.