Category 1 Hurricane Imelda strengthens as it moves away from U.S. coast
Hurricane Imelda grew stronger and picked up the pace Tuesday evening as it moved farther away from the U.S. coast.
In the next few days, Hurricane Imelda is expected to cross Bermuda as a Category 2, bringing high winds to the island nation, which is under a hurricane watch.
Imelda’s turn away from the U.S. means it takes most of its rain and wind impacts with it, although the one-two punch of Hurricane Imelda and Hurricane Humberto (now a Category 1) means the entire eastern seaboard will feel rough surf and rip current effects for a few more days.
Imelda is racing east, toward the more powerful Humberto, forecasters said. For days, meteorologists have wondered if the two storms would interact in some way, called the “Fujiwhara effect” or binary interaction. This evening’s update from the National Hurricane Center seemed to hint that this potential was on the table.
“There will likely be some binary interactions between Imelda and Humberto since the circulations of the two systems are getting very close together. However, it is difficult to specify how significantly this interaction will affect Imelda’s track,” the hurricane center said in the 11 a.m. update.
READ MORE: Dueling tropical systems could see ‘Fujiwhara effect.’ What does that mean for Florida?
Philippe Papin, senior hurricane specialist at the hurricane center, posted on Blue Sky that the two storms were fewer than 500 miles apart Tuesday morning. He called it “pretty darn unusual” for two hurricanes to be this close in the Atlantic.
“This might be the closest two simultaneous hurricanes have ever been in the Atlantic basin in the satellite era (since ~1975),” he wrote.
This story was originally published September 30, 2025 at 8:31 AM.
