Fiona became the third hurricane of season in the Atlantic, but it was the first to make landfall, not only once, but twice. Even though it battered Turks and Caicos on Tuesday, the center of Fiona stayed just east of the islands.
Since moving north of the Turks and Caicos overnight, Fiona strengthened even more over the open waters of the Atlantic. It is now a major Category 4 hurricane. It will continue to track northward through Thursday, where it is expected to pass just west of Bermuda later this week.
While conditions will improve in the Turks and Caicos today, Bermuda prepares to face tropical storm conditions at minimum Thursday night into Friday as the major hurricane brushes the island from the west.
Fiona strengthened into the third hurricane of the 2022 Atlantic Hurricane Season on Sunday morning just before making landfall near Punta Tocon in Puerto Rico. Along with hurricane-force winds, the hurricane bought torrential rain and catastrophic flooding across the island through Monday.
Playa Salinas in Puerto Rico became flooded from Hurricane Fiona’s torrential rains on Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Alejandro Granadillo)
Roughly twelve hours later, it made landfall a second time near Boca de Yuma in the Dominican Republic, where it brought powerful winds and heavy rainfall across eastern Hispaniola. Eastern parts of the island faced flash flooding and wind damage from the storm.
Fiona became a major hurricane on Tuesday once it moved off the northern coast of the Dominican Republic and over the warm waters of the Atlantic.
It continued to head north, where it battered the Turks and Caicos Islands and parts of the southeastern Bahamas with hurricane and tropical storm conditions, despite not making landfall there.
Although the worst is over for most of the Caribbean, all the islands heavily impacted by Fiona continue to deal with the aftermath.
After passing east of the Turks and Caicos, Fiona continued to strengthen over the open Atlantic Ocean. Still a major hurricane, it is now a Category 4 hurricane, producing maximum wind speeds of 130 mph.
It will continue to head toward the north as a major hurricane, where it is forecast to pass just west of Bermuda later this week.
Hurricane Warnings are no longer in effect for Turks and Caicos, but Tropical Storm Watches have been issued for the island of Bermuda.
Heavy rains from Fiona have caused mudslides and catastrophic flooding in Puerto Rico.
A road blocked is blocked by a mudslide caused by Hurricane Fiona in Cayey, Puerto Rico, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Stephanie Rojas)
Almost all of Puerto Rico remained under an island wide blackout after Hurricane Fiona moved through. Over 150,000 electric customers have been restored as of Tuesday.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is in touch in Puerto Rico and will do their best to help the Commonwealth get their power back online. President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency for the U.S. territory.
A man walks on the beach next to waves kicked up by Hurricane Fiona in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Monday, Sept. 19, 2022. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)
Additional impacts from Fiona include the potential for storm surge and life-threatening surf.
Tropical downpours from Fiona have also led to more mudslides and landslides in areas of high terrain.
Most models agree Fiona will head north before curving slightly toward the northeast later this week. It’s forecast to maintain its strength as a Category 4 storm, as it heads just west of Bermuda late Thursday night into Friday.
Spaghetti models or plots show a series of individual computer forecast models together on one map. They are useful to give insight into whether multiple models are in agreement on the path of the storm but they do not address the storm’s forecast intensity, winds, flooding and storm surge potential or other data. Tap here for more details on how to best use these models.
Along with Fiona, we continue to monitor Tropical Storm Gaston in the central Atlantic, as well as a few other areas that have the potential for development. You can see the latest here.
See how the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season has gone so far.
