Hurricane season ramped up in a hurry earlier this week with Dorian forming in the Atlantic. Dorian is currently a weak hurricane near Puerto Rico and is expected to strengthen to a category four hurricane with 130 mph winds over Labor Day weekend.

“With the warm water temperatures near the Bahamas and little in the way of shear, Dorian will strengthen rapidly over the next few days,” said Brad Harvey, Maxar’s Weather Desk Meteorologist. Currently, the forecast has Dorian making landfall along the East Central Coast of Florida, Monday morning.

From an agricultural perspective, parts of Florida are still feeling the effects from Hurricane Irma, which impacted the citrus crop in 2017. Dorian has the likelihood of impacting more of the citrus groves along the I-95 corridor with the high winds forecast to knock fruit off the trees as well as knock over the trees themselves.

From an energy perspective, power outages will likely occur with the storm as winds reach 130 mph. Local utilities will likely have crews on stand by in advance of the hurricane.

Dorian is likely not the last hurricane to percolate in the Atlantic basin this season. Beyond this weekend, Maxar’s Harvey stated, “The climatological peak of the hurricane season is September 10. Conditions are ripe for more storms forming over the weeks to come.”

Source: AgriMarketing