Hurricane Imelda (2025)

Storm Active: September 27-

Around September 16, the first of a pair of tropical waves entered the Atlantic basin from the east. Unlike its successor, which would become Hurricane Humberto, the leading wave did not generate much thunderstorm activity for much of its journey across the tropical Atlantic. It first attracted notice on September 21, when this activity increased markedly as it approached the Leeward Islands. The system remained too disorganized to consolidate into a tropical cyclone, but it brought significant rainfall across the Caribbean. It first impacted the Leewards on the 23rd, Puerto Rico the next day, and the Dominican Republic on the 25th. After that time, the disturbance slowed down and turned toward the north. Less land interaction and favorable atmospheric conditions allowed it to establish a circulation over the next couple of days. Eventually, the system was designated Tropical Depression Nine a little off the northern coast of east Cuba.

Despite achieving tropical cyclone status, the depression was very still broad and disorganized at first, with mid-level spin displaced from the low-level center. It began to build a dense area of convection near the developing center on the 28th. That afternoon, it was upgraded to Tropical Storm Imelda. Around the same time, the center began to move northward through the Bahamas, bringing tropical storm conditions to some of the islands. Imelda deepened steadily over the next few days and winds increased. By the time it exited the Bahamas on September 29, it was a strong tropical storm. It was upgraded to a hurricane during the morning of September 30.

Imelda did not have the traditional appearance of a hurricane on satellite imagery; some dry air was present near the center and convection did not completely surround it. Nevertheless, it continued strengthening. That day it also took a sharp turn toward the east-northeast. This was due to an approaching trough near the U.S. east coastline and a binary interaction with Hurricane Humberto to Imelda's northeast. As the two cyclones approached each other, the Fujiwhara effect caused them to rotate in a counterclockwise direction around the "center of gravity" between the two. This center of gravity was recurving northeast, so Humberto's eastward progress slowed some, while Imelda was yanked quickly eastward out to sea away from land.

As of 8:00pm EDT on September 30, 2025, Hurricane Imelda had maximum sustained winds of 85 mph, a minimum central pressure of 978 mb, and was moving east-northeast at 12 mph. For more up-to-date information and the latest watches and warnings, please consult the National Hurricane Center.