Kirk becomes a major hurricane

Hurricane Kirk is expected to continue to strengthen, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Wednesday evening after upgrading the storm to Category 3.

Kirk had a maximum sustained wind speed of 120 miles per hour Thursday morning. Kirk strengthened into a hurricane on Tuesday and further strengthened into a major hurricane just a day later. Kirk formed in the Atlantic on Monday and is the next major hurricane after Hurricane Helene, which made landfall last Thursday near Perry in the Big Bend region of the state as a Category 4 with maximum sustained winds of about 140 mph.

Helene caused fatalities from storm surges and devastating winds in several southern and southeastern statesand torrential rains that threatened several dams and flooded Asheville, North Carolina. The storm killed more than 130 people, the Associated Press reported.

Kirk is expected to remain offshore and the storm's path will turn northeast by this weekend. NHC experts expect the storm to remain a major hurricane until early Monday morning before weakening to a hurricane at sea.

Before it changes path, Kirk will continue northwest.

“Kirk predicts it will strengthen as it moves northwest across the Central Atlantic,” the NHC wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Large waves could reach the US East Coast by Sunday.”

An NHC spokesman said Newsweek that ocean waves are Kirk's greatest impact on the United States.

“Kirk is expected to grow larger and send ocean waves across the central and western Atlantic. These waves will likely increase the risk of dangerous surf and rip currents along the Leeward Islands through Friday, Bermuda and the Greater Antilles through Saturday. “We will be working on the U.S. East Coast and the Bahamas through Sunday,” the spokesman said.

Rip currents can be caused by hurricanes or tropical storms causing disturbances in the ocean, and they can affect a beach even if a tropical storm is hundreds of miles away, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned. Kirk's currents make for dangerous swimming conditions, although the larger waves attract people to the beach.

“While the surf looks more inviting due to the waves, very dangerous rip current hazards often increase as waves from distant hurricanes begin to impact the coast,” Will Ulrich, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said previously Newsweekadding that it will be very dangerous for both east central Florida and the East Coast.

And while Kirk is not expected to make direct landfall in the U.S., the currents could prove deadly.

“Ripple currents were the number one weather-related cause of death in east-central Florida and along the East Coast,” Ulrich said. “Even distant hurricanes can be dangerous.”

Tropical Storm Leslie formed behind Kirk on Wednesday. Leslie is expected to become a hurricane in the next few days, the NHC said, but the storm is also expected to remain offshore.

Meanwhile, meteorologists are monitoring a disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico that could become a tropical storm if conditions are favorable. If this storm forms, it could impact Gulf Coast states, including Florida, but the timing and forecast remain unclear.