The turn has begun after parts of the central Bahamas was ravaged by nearly 2ft of rain and pounded by tropical storm force winds for 3 straight days and hurricane-force winds for 1.5 days. At it’s peak, Joaquin’s wind gusts roared at between 125-130 mph winds over the parts of the multi-island paradise. Areas are inevitably devastated though pictures are slow to come through. Warnings are now down here but a hurricane watch has now been hoisted for the other island paradise of Bermuda.

Joaquin will go down as 4th lowest pressure of any Bahamas hurricane on record and 6th known pressure lower than 940mb.

BRIAN MCNOLDY: #Joaquin‘s pressure down to 937mb (-31mb in last 24h, -55mb in last 48h). Lowest pressure in ATL since Igor 2010!

Images are gradually coming out of the Bahamas.

https://youtu.be/9_93YpcQxAU

Joaquin Re-Strengthens As It Departs Bahamas

Interestingly since Joaquin gains distance from the Bahamas, the hurricane has strengthened back to Category 4, 130 mph intensity and this may be a real problem for Bermuda Sunday night into Monday.

Latest visible satellite imagery arguably shows the most impressive look of Joaquin yet. Question is, could it be even stronger than before over the next 24 hrs? It’s very possible given atmospheric and ocean conditions.

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Carolinas Underwater As Meteorological Perfection Comes Together

A complex but beautiful coming together of systems has led to what’s likely to be one of the Carolinas worst flood events. Front running system moved from Alabama to New England which brought a couple of inches to the Carolinas, then the real deal came when a cold front swept down from Canada and was stalled just off the Atlantic coast as a blocking high expanded over eastern Canada. This setup over abnormally warm Atlantic water, forced convection to erupt and as the trough axis became negatively tilted, an endless supply of moisture rich air travelled aboard a strong low level jet.

After the Carolinas was already soaked by up to 8 inches of rain in the last 48 hours due to the stalled front, the SE flow is now plugging moisture from Category 3 Hurricane Joaquin. This three fold event is bringing an historic weather event to the Carolinas and that’s WITHOUT any land falling hurricane.

The below infrared imagery shows the coastal Carolina system now drawing on Joaquin’s moisture.

As pointed out by Anthony Sagliani of AccuWeather, the mid and upper jet has become increasingly negatively tilted in response to the strong blocking high backing in over the Northeast US, this increases upward motion from Florida to Mid-Atlantic Joaquin and helps direct Joaquin’s moisture straight into the Carolinas through the next 72 hours as the hurricane slowly weakens on it’s journey north. Joaquin marks the final stage of a 3 part assault on the Carolinas, leading to an historic event.

Charleston, SC is under water!

The interaction of the upper trough swinging through the Southeast and 1045mb blocking high to the north is pivoting the moisture channel from a northward moving Joaquin straight into an already flood ravaged Carolinas through the next few days.

GFS surface shows moisture continuing to narrowly funnel into South Carolina through late Sunday into Monday.

500mb height anomaly perspective.

5 day totals are astonishing with somewhere expected to see 24 inches of rain.

NAM goes truly extreme with 27 inches!

See today’s video for the very latest.

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Tags: hurricane joaquin