There is room for Hurricane Katia to get close enough to several points of land in North America to cause problems.
Katia will impact coastal areas from northeastern Florida through Newfoundland with rough seas and surf.
Katia will take a path west of a ridge of high pressure over the central Atlantic (known as the Bermuda High) and east of a developing trough of low pressure over eastern North America.
The hurricane reached Category 4 strength (135 mph) for a time Monday night but has since weakened to a Category 3.
According to meteorologists, Katia still has a shot at regaining Category 4 status over the next 24 to 36 hours. After that period, it will enter a zone of progressively cooler waters and increasing wind shear which will ultimately lead to weakening.
It is expected Katia will continue on a northwestward path for the next couple of days that will take the hurricane west of Bermuda.
As Katia nears the U.S., the consensus among meteorologists is for the system to turn to the north, staying well to the east of North Carolina.
The key for other points of land sticking out into the Atlantic, such as Cape Cod, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, will be exactly when Katia makes this northward turn and follows up with a curve to the northeast.
We'll know that when the storm falls within the influence of the jet stream later this week but as the models are predicting now, it look like Katia will stay far enough offshore and then turn eastward thus avoiding any appreciable impact on our area.
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