Major Hurricane Irma

From NASA's Hurricane Web Page:

ATLANTIC OCEAN *Full update* NASA Sees Major Hurricane Irma Headed toward Leeward Islands 
- NASA animated NOAA satellite imagery to show the strengthening and movement of Hurricane Irma in the Atlantic Ocean. On Sept. 4 Hurricane Irma was a major hurricane, a Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.

A Hurricane Watch is in effect for Antigua, Barbuda, Anguilla, Montserrat, St. Kitts, and Nevis, Saba, St. Eustatius, and Sint Maarten, Saint Martin and Saint Barthelemy.

At NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, an animation was created using infrared and visible light data from NOAA's GOES-East satellite imagery from Sept. 1 to 4, 2017. The animation showed the movement and intensification of Hurricane Irma moving toward the Leeward Islands.

NOAA manages the GOES series of satellites, and NASA uses the satellite data to create images and animations. The animation was created by the NASA/NOAA GOES Project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

A 8 a.m. EDT (1200 UTC) on Sept. 4, the eye of Hurricane Irma was located near latitude 16.8 North, longitude 52.6 West. Irma is moving toward the west-southwest near 14 mph (22 km/h). A turn toward the west is expected later today, followed by a west-northwestward turn late
Tuesday.

Data from a NOAA Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicate that the maximum sustained winds have increased to near 120 mph (195 kph) with higher gusts. Additional strengthening is forecast through Tuesday night. The latest minimum central pressure estimated from data received by the reconnaissance aircraft is 947 millibars.

On the forecast track, the center of Irma will move closer to the Leeward Islands through Tuesday and then be near the northern Leeward Islands Tuesday night, Sept. 5. For updated forecasts, visit:www.nhc.noaa.gov.