Hurricane Sam Strengthens to Category 4 Storm in Central Atlantic

Hurricane Sam rapidly strengthened overnight and into the afternoon on Saturday, September 25, becoming a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (220 km/h), the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

Sam was expected to strengthen further overnight into Sunday, the NHC added.

This timelapse imagery captured by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s GOES-East satellite shows the hurricane’s progression over a three-hour period on Saturday while it was classified as a Category 3 storm.

The storm was several hundred miles east of the southern Caribbean, and was posing no threat to land as it moved northward through the Atlantic Ocean. However, forecasters said swells generated by the hurricane could reach the Lesser Antilles early the following week. Credit: NOAA Satellites via Storyful