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Hurricane Lorenzo's Record Eastern Atlantic Intensity

Lorenzo rapidly deepened Saturday from Category 3 status with estimated maximum sustained winds of 115 mph at 11 a.m. EDT to Category 5 status with winds of 160 mph just 12 hours later.

This is by far the farthest east in the Atlantic Ocean any of the previous 35 Category 5 hurricanes have occurred in records dating to the 1920s.

<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/TROP-CAT5-ATL-1924-2019.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273" srcset="https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/TROP-CAT5-ATL-1924-2019.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273 400w, https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/TROP-CAT5-ATL-1924-2019.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551 800w" > The previous Category 5 hurricane locations from 1924 through 2019 are shown as red segments. Lorenzo became a Category 5 hurricane on Sept. 28, 2019, farther east than any previous Category 5 Atlantic hurricane on record. (Data: NOAA)

At a Glance Lorenzo brought strong winds to parts of the Azores early Wednesday

Lorenzo's post-tropical remnant will hit Ireland and the United Kingdom beginning on Thursday.

Orange and yellow warnings for strong winds have been issued in Ireland. National Hurricane Center forecaster Eric Blake noted Lorenzo became a Category 5 hurricane almost 650 miles farther east than the previous easternmost Category 5 hurricane, Hugo in 1989.

Lorenzo also had the lowest pressure for a hurricane east of 50 degrees west longitude on record Saturday evening and had been a major hurricane for the longest period of time east of 45 degrees west longitude on record, according to Colorado State University tropical scientist Dr. Phil Klotzbach.

Lorenzo was the second Category 5 hurricane of the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season and the sixth such top-end hurricane to form in the Atlantic Basin in a little less than three years, following Matthew, Irma, Maria, Michael and Dorian.

(CATEGORY 6 BLOG: Lorenzo Muscles Its Way to Category 5 Strength)

Lorenzo's Other Notables

Even before becoming a Category 5, Lorenzo was a historic storm.

When Lorenzo first became a Category 4 hurricane, it was also an outlier, particularly when considering only those that became Category 4 hurricanes from Sept. 26 through the end of the season, as pointed out by Richard Dixon , a meteorologist at CatInsight, and Michael Lowry, an atmospheric scientist at FEMA.

September 2010's Hurricane Julia was the only other hurricane on record to intensify to Category 4 status farther east in the Atlantic Ocean than Lorenzo. But Julia's estimated winds peaked at 140 mph, slightly lower than Lorenzo.

<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/cat4s-lorenzo26sep19-1950-2017.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273" srcset="https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/cat4s-lorenzo26sep19-1950-2017.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273 400w, https://s.w-x.co/util/image/w/cat4s-lorenzo26sep19-1950-2017.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551 800w" > Tracks of all Atlantic Basin Category 4 or stronger hurricanes from 1950 through 2017. Segments during which each hurricane was Category 4 or 5 is shown by the pink and purple line segments, respectively. The position of Lorenzo when it first reached Category 4 status is denoted by the dot and arrow. The location of Julia when it was a Category 4 hurricane in 2010 is also highlighted. (Note: 2018 tracks were unavailable in the online database as of the time of this article.) (NOAA)

Even in the heart of hurricane season, tropical waves moving off the coast of western Africa usually take some time to mushroom into intense hurricanes.

This is often due to intrusions of dry air, known as Saharan air layers , moving off Africa's Sahara Desert. Fledgling tropical disturbances need warm, moist air to intensify, so battling these intrusions can prevent intensification or even spell doom in the eastern Atlantic Ocean.

In Lorenzo's case, that wasn't a big problem.

A lack of shearing winds , typically warm ocean water and moist air allowed Lorenzo to rapidly intensify so far east.

Lorenzo strengthened from a tropical storm last Tuesday into a hurricane by Wednesday, first reaching Category 4 hurricane strength by late Thursday morning. Lorenzo then weakened to Category 3 strength late Friday, before regaining Category 4 strength on Saturday and hitting Category 5 strength on Sunday.

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