Hurricane Irma's trajectory has been a demonstrably difficult one; forecasters have pointed out its remarkably rapid development, origin, and where it could be headed without saying where exactly it could make landfall. When it comes to its pathway, some could be wondering if Hurricane Irma will hit Florida. For those in the United States, news of Hurricane Irma is exceptionally alarming as Texas is still trying to recover from the chaos wreaked by Hurricane Harvey.
With thousands displaced, power outages in commercial and residential areas, toxic floodwater covering neighborhoods, and 47 deaths according to local officials, the idea of yet another hurricane is bound to cause panic among those on the East Coast and Gulf Coast.
According to meteorologists at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, Hurricane Irma's track is bound to stay in the Atlantic Ocean for the next few days. This is where the hurricane may experience rapid intensification over the ocean waters but so far, forecasters have offered no confirmation. It is still too premature to announce an official pathway and due to the lack of certainty, no official warnings or alerts have been issued for Hurricane Irma either. In spite of its volatile development, the nature of Irma has intrigued weather experts who have called it a Cape Verde hurricane, pointing its origin off the eastern bits of the Atlantic Ocean.
In order to predict a tentative path for a hurricane, some meteorologists use the "Spaghetti Plot." If you look at the tweet shared above by meteorologist Mark Elliot, you will what the term means. A spaghetti plot is a visualized prediction model for storms and hurricane and its name is fairly self-explanatory; the lines resemble spaghetti. These squiggly lines refer to the possible-but-not-confirmed path a hurricane's winds may take in the distant future. These lines are not absolute and can alter depending on the storm or the hurricane. According to the spaghetti plot shared by Elliot, Hurricane Irma is ostensibly headed toward the Bahamas and then further headed up north, where it could hit Florida and North Carolina. But it's too early to say for sure.
While it is too soon to give a final word on Hurricane Irma, it is worth noting that the mercurial hurricane is noticeably strong, fluctuating, and likely to gain more strength over the next few days. For now, the most practical thing Americans on the East Coast and Gulf Coast can do is take a proactive route and prepare for a possible hurricane disaster - without panicking.
