Tropical Storm Earl upgraded to hurricane, threatens Bermuda

Typhoon Winds Blowing Coastal Palms — (Image credit: Carl & Ann Purcell/Getty Images)

Though the Atlantic hurricane season was slow to start, a new major storm is poised to slam the shores of Bermuda. Tropical Storm Earl, which appeared on Sept. 3 near the Caribbean, has been upgraded to a hurricane as of Wednesday morning.

Meteorologists predict that Hurricane Earl will become a major hurricane — classified as Category 3 or higher — by Thursday, Sept. 8. According to the National Hurricane Center, the storm was approximately 485 miles off the coast of Bermuda as of the morning of Sept. 7. The island has since been issued a tropical storm warning, CNN reports. Earl is expected to pass to the southeast of Bermuda in 48 to 60 hours and then move northeast, away from other land masses.

Earl is the fifth named storm of the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season. It comes in the immediate wake of Hurricane Danielle, which is churning in the North Atlantic Ocean and not expected to pose a threat to land. The New York Times reports that this year's hurricane season started quieter than expected, especially when compared to the 21 named storms in 2021 and the record-breaking 30 storms in 2020.

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The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.

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Devika Rao has worked as a staff writer at The Week since 2022, covering science, the environment, climate and business. She previously worked as a policy associate for a nonprofit organization advocating for environmental action from a business perspective.