From MadMikesAmerica:
As Texas still deals with the devastation from Harvey, another weather system churning in the Atlantic, and moving west toward the US, has some worried.
Irma, a huge Category 3 hurricane experienced “rapid intensification” from Wednesday into Thursday CNN reports. A National Hurricane Center alert issued early Friday pegs maximum sustained winds at 115mph, with higher gusts.
The storm is expected to approach the Caribbean by Tuesday or so as a monster Category 4 storm, then possibly the US—though meteorological models with wildly different scenarios show it’s too early to make any definitive predictions on where the storm will land.
Irma is a “Cape Verde” hurricane, meaning one that forms off the coast of Africa then drives across the Atlantic. What’s strengthening Irma is extremely warm water, and a lack of wind shear, which often acts to ‘shear’ off the tops of hurricanes, slowing down, and sometimes killing them.