Will Hurricane Fred Hit The U.S.?

It's stormy seas on the Atlantic. A hurricane is brewing near the coast of Western Africa. Dubbed Fred, its winds are up to 85 miles per hour, and it's headed towards land. But will Hurricane Fred hit the U.S.? Probably not. According to Reuters, the storm is not expected to hit the U.S. or the Caribbean. But it's not quite time for a sigh of relief. The storm is hurtling toward Cape Verde, a group islands near the coast of Africa officially referred to as the Republic of Cabo Verde. The National Hurricane Center (NHC), based in the U.S., warned on Monday afternoon that the storm is moving northwest toward Cape Verde at about 12 miles per hour. The NHC predicts that Fred will pass over the islands Monday night.

Never heard of Cape Verde? It's an archipelago approximately 400 miles off Africa's Atlantic coast. The islands were originally formed from volcanic activity, and now have a population of about 425,000 people.

The NHC said that the islands will experience hurricane conditions starting Monday evening which will last through the night. The center is predicting flooding and dangerously large waves, along with a possible 10 inches of rain, which is likely to cause flash floods and mudslides.

Not only is this a danger, but it's also a rarity. According to the National Hurricane Center, Fred is farther east than any other recorded hurricane in the tropical Atlantic ever. It's also been a long time since a hurricane warning for the islands — the last recorded time a hurricane hit Cape Verde was over a century ago, in 1892. Fred is pretty unique.

After it passes over the island, the storm is expected to die down. University of Miami cyclone researcher researcher Brian McNoldy explained in the Washington Post on Monday that, "a combination of factors will weaken the hurricane over the next few days, including drier air, cooler water temperatures and increasing wind shear, which acts to tear tropical cyclones apart." So Fred is not likely to hit the U.S.

Fred is one of several recent summer storms to emerge. Tropical Storm Erika raged through the Caribbean last week, killing at least 20 people in the island of Dominica. Hurricane Ignacio is near Hawaii this week, while Hurricane Jimena is also moving northwest near Hawaii.

It's hurricane season. Fred isn't the first, and it won't be the last.