Hurricane Rafael strengthens in Gulf of Mexico after knocking out power to millions in Cuba
MIAMI, Fla. - Powerful Hurricane Rafael has strengthened in the Gulf of Mexico after slamming into Cuba as a major hurricane on Wednesday and continues to crawl westward slowly.
HURRICANE RAFAEL TRACKER: FORECAST CONE, SPAGHETTI PLOTS, MAPS, ALERTS AND MORE
Rafael is currently a Category 3 hurricane with some fluctuations in intensity possible on Friday, the National Hurricane Center said. By the evening, a steady weakening trend is forecast and should continue through the weekend.
Cuba and parts of the western Caribbean have been the hardest hit by the storm, which brought damaging hurricane-force winds, flooding rain and a life-threatening storm surge.
A weather station in the Casablanca area of Havana reported a wind gust of 93 mph around the time Rafael made landfall Wednesday afternoon. According to a report from Reuters, Cuba was plunged into darkness due to the storm's impacts.
All tropical alerts have been dropped, and conditions are expected to gradually improve across the region, but millions of people along the U.S. Gulf Coast will be closely monitoring the hurricane’s progress as it slowly churns over the Gulf of Mexico.
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Where is Hurricane Rafael?
This graphic shows the status of Hurricane Rafael. (FOX Weather)
As of the latest advisory from the NHC, Rafael is about 245 miles north-northeast of Progreso, a port city on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. It's moving west at 9 mph. Rafael has maximum sustained winds of 120 mph.
What's the forecast for Hurricane Rafael?
The forecast cone for Hurricane Rafael. (FOX Weather)
Forecast models favor a weakening pattern through the next several days as Rafael moves into a drier environment and encounters stronger wind shear over the weekend.
If Rafael survives into next week, the FOX Forecast Center said it could be because it has moved just far enough south in the western Gulf of Mexico to avoid those hostile conditions. In that case, the Mexican coast could be threatened.
The spaghetti plots for Hurricane Rafael. (FOX Weather)
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