Yes, indeed.. a hurricane-ish type storm is about to hit Ireland..
Hurricane Ophelia is the 10th consecutive hurricane to form in the Atlantic basin this year. According to University of Miami hurricane expert Brian McNoldy, the last time ten consecutive storms became a hurricane was 1893. While a very interesting factoid, the “elephant in the room” is that Ophelia is headed to Ireland. It is rare, but not unprecedented.
There are a few interesting things about this.. First off, there have been really rare occasions that storms of this nature made it as far as Ophelia may..
Actually there have been only a handful in the past years since about, oh, 1851..
From 1851 to 2010, only 10 extratropical storms, typically the tail ends of tropical cyclones, have hit within 200 miles (322 kilometers) of Ireland….Hurricane Debbie was the only tropical hurricane to make landfall in that area, clipping the far northwest of the British Isles in 1961.
But this is 2017–the year that mayhem on land and in oceans seems to reign supreme..
Ophelia is in warm waters right now.. But after some more travel will lessen in intensity and most likely (we think? ) become extra tropical, somewhat like Superstorm Sandy from 2012.
That does not mean Ireland is going to dodge a significant bullet here.. as a matter of fact, maritime problems will exist, harsh winds, and heavy rains..
….
2017 is the year truly anything is possible.