hurricane update from NHC Hurricane dorian advisory 4

.DORIAN FORECAST TO INTENSIFY DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS...

There are no coastal watches or warnings in effect.Interests in the northwestern and central Bahamas should monitor the progress of Dorian. Watches may be required for portions of this area on Friday.

Hurricane Dorian is centered as of 5 p.m. AST/EDT over the Southwest Atlantic Ocean about 330 miles (535 km) east of the Southeast Bahamas. It's moving toward the northwest near 13 mph (20 km/h), and this general motion is expected to continue through Friday. A west-northwestward to westward motion is forecast to begin by Friday night and continue into the weekend. On this track, Dorian should move over the Atlantic well east of the southeastern and central Bahamas tonight and on Friday, approach the northwestern Bahamas Saturday, and move near or over portions of the northwest Bahamas on Sunday.

Maximum sustained winds are near 85 mph (140 km/h) with higher gusts. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 15 miles (30 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 90 miles (150 km).
Strengthening is forecast during the next few days, and
Dorian is expected to become a major hurricane on Friday, and remain an extremely dangerous hurricane through the weekend.

Dorian is expected to produce the following rainfall accumulations this weekend into early next week:
The central Bahamas...1 to 2 inches, isolated 4 inches.
The northwestern Bahamas...3 to 5 inches, isolated 7 inches.
Coastal sections of the Southeast United States...5 to 10 inches, isolated 15 inches. This rainfall may cause life-threatening flash floods.

The risk of devastating hurricane-force winds along the Florida east coast and peninsula late this weekend and early next week continues to increase, although it is too soon to determine where the strongest winds will occur.

Get the very latest on Dorian and graphics at www.nhc.noaa.gov/#Dorian