Sam upgraded to a hurricane, continues to rapidly intensify
Sam will continue to intensify and is forecasted to reach major hurricane status by Saturday.
Sam was upgraded to a hurricane Friday morning, making it the seventh named hurricane in the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season.
Sam will continue to intensify and is forecasted to reach major hurricane status by tomorrow.
"The large scale environmental conditions all appear favorable for continued rapid intensification during the next day or so as the hurricane is expected to remain over warm 29 deg C waters and in very low wind shear conditions," the National Hurricane Center said Friday morning.
Sam has maximum sustained winds at 75 mph and a central pressure of 993 millibars. It is moving west at 15 mph.
Even though the storm is rapidly intensifying, Sam will slow down and turn its track toward the west-northwest.
