
After putting on an unexpected performance of rapid intensification, unprecedented in the central Atlantic this late in the season, Hurricane Epsilon peaked as a category 3 storm with 115 mph winds Wednesday afternoon and evening, becoming the fourth major Atlantic hurricane of this hyperactive season.
The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season is now above average in every measure of activity (see Tweet by Phil Klotzbach), and has an excellent chance of breaking the all-time record for most named storms in a season (28, set in 2005).
A remarkable feat of rapid intensification so late in year
In the 24 hours ending at 2 p.m. EDT October 21, Epsilon’s winds increased from 60 mph to 110 mph and the pressure dropped 35 mb. Epsilon’s intensification feat substantially exceeded the National Hurricane Center’s definition of rapid intensification, for which the threshold is at least a 35-mph increase in winds in 24 hours. Epsilon is the sixth 2020 Atlantic hurricane to rapidly intensify:
Hurricane Hanna, July 24–25, 35 mph in 24 hours;
Hurricane Laura, August 26–27, 65 mph in 24 hours;
Hurricane Sally, September 14–15, 40 mph in 24 hours;
Hurricane Teddy, September 17–18, 45 mph in 24 hours;
Hurricane Delta, October 5–6, 80 mph in 24 hours; and
Hurricane Epsilon, October 20–21, 50 mph in 24 hours.

In addition, Tropical Storm Gamma rapidly intensified October 2-3, with a 35 mph increase in winds in 24 hours, giving the Atlantic seven rapidly intensifying storms this year. Hurricanes Isaias, Marco, Nana, and Paulette did not rapidly intensify. According to statistics compiled by Tomer Berg, the highest number of rapidly intensifying Atlantic storms since 1979 occurred in 1995, with 10.
As shown in the Tweet from Sam Lillo, Epsilon is the only hurricane to have such a large drop in pressure so late in the year outside of the Caribbean Sea; Epsilon is also the only hurricane to rapidly intensify by at least 45 knots (50 mph) so far north in the Atlantic so late in the year.
A tropical storm warning for Bermuda
At 11 a.m. EDT Thursday, Epsilon had weakened to a category 1 hurricane with top sustained winds of 90 mph and a central pressure of 965 mb. The hurricane was headed northwest at 7 mph toward Bermuda, which was under a tropical storm warning. The western fringes of Epsilon were bringing heavy rain showers to Bermuda, as seen on Bermuda radar, and winds were gusting near tropical storm-force at the Bermuda airport. Epsilon is expected to turn to the north-northwest well before reaching Bermuda, likely passing about 150 miles to the east of the island on Thursday night.
A large storm, Epsilon has tropical storm-force winds that extend up to 310 miles to the north of the center. The large wind field is also generating large swells, which will be affecting the U.S. East Coast, Atlantic Canada, and the north-facing shores of the Caribbean islands this week.

Forecast for Epsilon
Moderate wind shear of 10-20 knots, combined with sea surface temperatures (SSTs) that will fall from 26 Celsius (79°F) on Thursday to 24 Celsius (75°F) on Saturday, will likely keep Epsilon at a steady intensity, or cause a slow weakening. On Saturday, Epsilon is expected to recurve to the northeast, and on Sunday, it may pass close and bring heavy rains to the southeastern portion of Newfoundland, Canada.
Epsilon will merge with a trough of low pressure to its north on Sunday and transition to a very powerful extratropical storm. Its central pressure on Tuesday, when it will be a few hundred miles south of Iceland, could be between 931-941 mb, according to the 0Z Thursday runs of the GFS, European, and UKMET models.

An eye on the western Caribbean this weekend
A trough of low pressure over the western Caribbean was bringing disorganized heavy rain showers to Cuba, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Haiti on Thursday afternoon. This system had some modest support for development from the Thursday morning runs of the GFS and European models and their ensembles, which showed it could become a tropical depression or weak tropical storm on Sunday or Monday in the western Caribbean or in the waters surrounding the Bahama Islands.
None of these model runs showed anything stronger than a weak tropical storm forming, but predicted a northeasterly track with a potential threat to Bermuda by Tuesday. Regardless of whether a tropical cyclone forms, heavy rains of 2-5 inches from this system will affect Cuba, the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, South Florida and Jamaica through Monday. In an 8 a.m. EDT Thursday tropical weather outlook, NHC gave two-day and five-day odds of development of 10% and 30%, respectively, to this system. The next name on the Atlantic list of storms is Zeta.
Website visitors can comment on “Eye on the Storm” posts (see below). Please read our Comments Policy prior to posting. (See all EOTS posts here. Sign up to receive notices of new postings here.)
Posted on October 22, 2020(1:22pm EDT).
Navy and Icon models take the Carib storm into the big bend area …..https://www.tropicaltidbits.com/analysis/models/icon/2020102312/icon_mslp_pcpn_watl_43.png
My latest birdseye view chart and post on the Atlantic tropics is up at this link. Lots of information on what’s going on with 95L in the western Caribbean and Epsilon. Also, I mention the possibility of two additional disturbances that could emerge in the coming days, one west of Bermuda, and another east of the Lesser Antilles.
X28
POSS TCFA
95L/INV/XX/XX https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a20b62a8332ce73907f39a9511f5c61b17307a80f8af3cb383a043fb9e3e674f.gif?w=600&h
As usual another storm 95l model showing it going everywhere but East Central Florida as usual we get nothing
Japan Meteorological Agency
Tropical Cyclone Advisory #37 – 21:00 PM JST October 23 2020
TYPHOON SAUDEL (T2017)
=============================================
South China Sea
At 12:00 PM UTC, Typhoon Saudel (970 hPa) located at 17.9N 114.2E has 10 minute sustained winds of 70 knots with gusts of 100 knots. The cyclone is reported as moving west slowly.
Storm Force Winds
====================
50 nm from the center
Gale Force Winds
=====================
240 nm from the center in northwestern quadrant
120 nm from the center in southeastern quadrant
Dvorak Intensity: T5.0-
Forecast and Intensity
=========================
24 HRS: 17.5N 110.6E – 60 knots (CAT 2/Severe Tropical Storm) South China Sea
48 HRS: 17.5N 107.0E – 35 knots (CAT 1/Tropical Storm) Gulf of Tonkin
72 HRS: 17.7N 103.7E – Tropical Depression Over land Thailand
———————————————————————————————————————
Tropical Cyclone Advisory #1 – 21:00 PM JST October 23 2020
TROPICAL DEPRESSION
=============================================
Sea East of the Philippines
At 12:00 PM UTC, Tropical Depression (1006 hPa) located at 10.7N 133.4E has 10 minute sustained winds of 30 knots. The depression is reported as moving west slowly.
Dvorak Intensity:
Forecast and Intensity
=========================
24 HRS: 12.6N 129.8E – 35 knots (CAT 1/Tropical Storm) Sea East of the Philippines
48 HRS: 13.6N 125.4E – 50 knots (CAT 2/Severe Tropical Storm) Sea East of the Philippines
72 HRS: 13.4N 120.6E – 50 knots (CAT 2/Severe Tropical Storm) Over land Occidental Mindoro province (Luzon/Philippines)
https://yaleclimateconnections.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Screenshot_2020-10-23-PAGASA-1603462385.8371.png
Philippines names the tropical depression “Quinta”
Depression (BOB03-2020) crossed West Bengal and adjoining Bangladesh coasts near 21.8N 88.5E between 6:00-7:00 AM UTC (1130 & 1230 IST) today, as a depression with maximum sustained wind speed of 45-55 km/h gusting to 65 km/h. It moved across 24 Parganas Districts of West Bengal.
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/xgtwo/two_atl_2d0.png
10/23 and the GFS saw this 2 weeks ago, seeing something try to form right there..but in all fairness..so did the Canadian model for almost as long…models getting better on a formation in an area
India Meteorological Department
Tropical Cyclone Advisory #6 – 8:30 AM IST October 23 2020
DEPRESSION BOB03-2020
=============================================
At 3:00 AM UTC, The Depression moved north northeastwards with a speed of 24 kmph during past 6 hours and lays centered near 21.3N 88.4E over northwestern Bay of Bengal off West Bengal – Bangladesh coasts, about 50 km southeast of Sagar Islands (West Bengal) and 200 km west southwest of Khepupara (Bangladesh).
It is very likely to move north northeastwards and cross West Bengal & adjoining Bangladesh coasts between Sagar Islands (West Bengal) & Khepupara (Bangladesh) over Sundarbans around noon, today. (6:00-9:00 AM UTC/11:30-14:30 PM IST)
As per satellite imagery, the system has intensity T1.5 and shows shear pattern. Convective clouds are sheared to the north northeast of the system center scattered low and medium clouds with embedded intense to very intense convection lays over northwestern Bay of Bengal, coastal West Bengal and Bangladesh in association with the system. Minimum cloud top temperature is -93C.
3 minute sustained winds near the center is 25 knots with gusts of 35 knots. The estimated central pressure of the depression is 1000 hPa.
Japan Meteorological Agency
Tropical Cyclone Advisory #35 – 15:00 PM JST October 23 2020
TYPHOON SAUDEL (T2017)
=============================================
South China Sea
At 6:00 AM UTC, Typhoon Saudel (965 hPa) located at 17.9N 114.8E has 10 minute sustained winds of 75 knots with gusts of 105 knots. The cyclone is reported as moving west northwest slowly.
Storm Force Winds
====================
60 nm from the center
Gale Force Winds
=====================
240 nm from the center in northwestern quadrant
120 nm from the center in southeastern quadrant
Dvorak Intensity: T5.0
Forecast and Intensity
=========================
24 HRS: 17.6N 111.4E – 65 knots (CAT 3/Strong Typhoon) South China Sea
48 HRS: 17.6N 107.6E – 40 knots (CAT 1/Tropical Storm) Gulf of Tonkin
72 HRS: 17.8N 105.0E – Tropical Depression Over land Laos
Thank you Dr. Jeff , lets see how far it can get.
Japan Meteorological Agency
Tropical Cyclone Advisory #33 – 9:00 AM JST October 23 2020
TYPHOON SAUDEL (T2017)
=============================================
South China Sea
At 0:00 AM UTC, Typhoon Saudel (965 hPa) located at 17.5N 115.3E has 10 minute sustained winds of 75 knots with gusts of 105 knots. The cyclone is reported as moving west northwest slowly.
Storm Force Winds
====================
70 nm from the center
Gale Force Winds
=====================
270 nm from the center in northwestern quadrant
180 nm from the center in southeastern quadrant
Dvorak Intensity: T5.0
Forecast and Intensity
=========================
24 HRS: 17.6N 112.4E – 65 knots (CAT 3/Strong Typhoon) South China Sea
48 HRS: 17.4N 108.5E – 45 knots (CAT 1/Tropical Storm) Gulf of Tonkin
72 HRS: 17.6N 105.4E – Tropical Depression Over land Laos
India Meteorological Department
Tropical Cyclone Advisory #4 – 23:30 PM IST October 22 2020
DEPRESSION BOB03-2020
=============================================
At 18:00 PM UTC, The Depression moved north northeastwards with a speed of 10 km/h during past 6 hours and lays centered near 20.2N 87.6E over Northwest Bay of Bengal off Odisha coast, about 90 km east southeast of Paradip (Odisha), 170 km south southwest of Sagar Islands (West Bengal) and 340 km west southwest of Khepupara (Bangladesh).
It is very likely to move north northeastwards and cross West Bengal & adjoining Bangladesh coasts between Sagar islands (West Bengal) & Khepupara (Bangladesh) over Sundarbans by afternoon of October 23rd.
Forecast and Intensity
===========================
12 HRS: 21.7N 88.5E – 25 knots (Depression) nearby West Bengal coasts
24 HRS: 22.9N 89.2E – 25 knots (Depression) Over land Bangladesh
36 HRS: 24.1N 89.9E – 25 knots (Depression)
Japan Meteorological Agency
Tropical Cyclone Advisory #31 – 3:00 AM JST October 23 2020
TYPHOON SAUDEL (T2017)
=============================================
South China Sea
At 18:00 PM UTC, Typhoon Saudel (965 hPa) located at 17.5N 115.8E has 10 minute sustained winds of 75 knots with gusts of 105 knots. The cyclone is reported as moving north northwest slowly.
Storm Force Winds
====================
70 nm from the center
Gale Force Winds
=====================
270 nm from the center in northwestern quadrant
180 nm from the center in southeastern quadrant
Dvorak Intensity: T5.0
Forecast and Intensity
=========================
24 HRS: 17.6N 113.4E – 65 knots (CAT 3/Strong Typhoon) South China Sea
48 HRS: 17.3N 109.3E – 50 knots (CAT 2/Severe Tropical Storm) South China Sea
72 HRS: 17.6N 106.2E – Tropical Depression Over land Vietnam
ok good night all…be safe out there
gee any LOW comes in there..boom huh..very warm waters down there…https://static.baynews9.com/images/wx/bn9/60min/BHI.jpg
this one comes from Africa i guess..watching this one closely next few weeks..https://www.tropicaltidbits.com/analysis/models/gfs/2020102212/gfs_mslp_uv850_watl_65.png
Thanks for the update!
My latest birdseye view chart and post of the Atlantic tropics highlighting Epsilon, the western Caribbean disturbance, and also the tropical wave in the central Atlantic which seems to have some spin to it is at this link.
by the way..a very nice site you have there NC..congrats and good luck with it
Thank you Dr. Masters. An interesting storm for sure.
Live Bermuda cam: https://www.earthcam.com/world/bermuda/pembroke/?cam=bermuda