Hurricane Joaquin Upgraded to a Category 4

By LIZ TAURASI (Patch Staff)

Hurricane Joaquin is gathering strength and the National Weather Service is calling it an extremely dangerous storm as it’s intensified to a Category 4.

Joaquin is currently bearing down on the Bahamas. Earlier this morning the storm was upgraded to a Category 3.

The National Weather Service says the Bahamas could face a catastrophic situation with the prolonged period of intense winds.

The hurricane, named Joaquin, rapidly intensified Thursday and was registering maximum wind speeds of 130 mph by 2 p.m.

“Joaquin is expected to intensify a little more in the next 12 to 24 hours,” says the NHC, adding that “a hurricane watch for the U.S. coast would likely not occur until at least Friday morning.”

Residents along the East Coast are preparing for this storm even though it’s still too soon to tell how it will all play out as it travels north. Forecasters have been saying it’s too difficult to forecast due to its track, but there will be impact along the East Coast.

A graphic of the hurricane’s projected path, which is being updated constantly by the NHC but is still very uncertain, predicts that the storm could hit the Mid-Atlantic Coast by this weekend — and could make its way to the Boston area by Monday or Tuesday.

If hurricane watches are issued for parts of the East Coast, the National Hurricane Center says it will likely happen by Friday the earliest.

Joaquin is expected to start traveling north by Friday, when its wind speeds will likely reach 140 mph, says the NHC. If the hurricane stays on its projected path, it could make its first landfall off the tip of North Carolina, then head directly for the NYC area.

A state of emergency has been declared in Virginia, North Carolina and New Jersey.

New York hasn’t yet followed suite, but Governor Andrew Cuomo did issue an emergency statement directing state agencies to “prepare for prolonged heavy rains and tropical storm conditions” in the coming days.

Patch Staffer Simone Wilson contributed to this report.

Patch will continue to update this story as more information comes in.