Hurricane Sam to Generate High Surf Along U.S. East Coast as it Moves Away From Bermuda

 weather.com meteorologists

Published: October 2, 2021

Hurricane Sam won't threaten the East Coast but will be a wave generator along those beaches through the weekend as it brings tropical storm conditions to Bermuda.

Sam will remain a strong hurricane as it moves northeastward over the next few days into the north Atlantic.

Current Satellite

Forecast models suggest Sam is likely to track well to the south and east of Newfoundland, Canada early next week, then become a strong post-tropical storm over the North Atlantic Ocean.

This track will keep Sam well away from the U.S. East Coast.

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Sam will weaken this weekend into early next week.

Current Info, Projected Path

Sam will generate high surf and rip currents along the East Coast this weekend, as Hurricane Larry did earlier this month despite also passing east of Bermuda.

Keep this in mind if you're headed to an East Coast beach this weekend. Rip currents have already claimed 81 lives in the U.S. so far this year, according to the National Weather Service.

(MORE: The Danger of Rip Currents)

Sam's Recap

Sam became the eighteenth named storm of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season last Thursday, the second earliest "S" storm in Atlantic Basin history, behind only 2020's Sally, according to NHC hurricane specialist Philippe Papin.

Sam became the fourth major hurricane of the 2021 Atlantic season on Saturday after it rapidly intensified. Maximum sustained winds in Sam increased from 85 mph to 140 mph in the 24 hours ending Saturday 5 p.m. EDT.

Track History of Hurricane Sam

The powerful hurricane continued to gain strength last Sunday and reached a maximum intensity of 155 mph while spinning several hundred miles to the east-southeast of the Leeward Islands, according to a Sunday evening Hurricane Hunter reconnaissance mission.

Sam then weakened overnight because of an eyewall replacement cycle, a process in which an intense hurricane replaces its eyewall with an outer eyewall.

Once that cycle was complete, an eye appeared again in infrared satellite imagery by Monday afternoon.

Sam joined 2019's Hurricane Lorenzo as the only Category 4 or stronger hurricanes so far east this late in the hurricane season, according to NOAA-CIRES researcher Sam Lillo.

Sam has been a major hurricane for more than a week, the first to reach such a duration since 2016's Hurricane Matthew.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.