ATLANTA, Georgia — Rafael hit wind shear and dry air and rapidly weakened Friday evening. At 4 p.m., winds were at 100 mph. Then by 10 p.m., the winds had weakened to just 70 mph. Rafael continues to weaken, and winds at the 4 a.m. update fell to 65 mph.
Rafael is now a tropical storm, and will likely continue to weaken this weekend.
At peak, Rafael made landfall in Cuba in the province of Artemisa as a Category 3 hurricane around 4:15 p.m. Monday with maximum sustained winds of 115 miles per hour and a pressure of 956 mb.
Models also show the storm stalling over the next 3-5 days. With a lack of strong steering, Rafael will meander southward through the Gulf into this week.
Hurricane season does not end until the end of November. Temperatures are getting cooler as we head towards the end of fall, but the water in the Caribbean is still warm. If there is any development, this could fuel a storm.
Hurricane season in the Atlantic ends on November 30. However, the Caribbean often sees late-season tropical development. There were no November storms in 2023. Hurricane Nicole in 2022 was one of the recent notable November storms. Nicole was the fourth storm to make landfall in the United States.
Rafael is the 17th named storm of this hurricane season.
