Powerful Hurricane Kirk on path to impact Europe as massive post-tropical cyclone

Parts of northwestern Europe are on alert for a significant storm system that has its origins in the tropical Atlantic.

Hurricane Kirk, the 11th named storm of the 2024 hurricane season, reached Category 4 storm status on Thursday. But it will eventually target locations such as the United Kingdom and France with heavy rainfall, rough seas and damaging wind gusts.

Forecast models show impacts beginning late in the upcoming workweek as the storm system loses its heat source from the warm Atlantic Ocean and becomes known as a post-tropical cyclone.

A post-tropical storm system is a cyclone that has lost its tropical characteristics but still maintains significant organization to produce heavy rainfall and strong winds.

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Kirk to miss North America, but still have some impacts

Kirk began its trek in the central Atlantic on Sept. 29 and rapidly strengthened into a Category 3 hurricane a few days later.

The FOX Forecast Center says that due to the orientation of the subtropical ridge and a significant trough, the hurricane will bypass areas such as Bermuda, the Bahamas and the United States as it heads on a northerly to northeasterly trajectory from the tropics.

Due to the cyclone’s size, with damaging winds extending outwards nearly 200 miles, the National Hurricane Center warns that swells could eventually reach the East Coast, even though the hurricane is expected to remain hundreds of miles away from North America.

Direct impacts will be limited to Europe once the hurricane transitions to a post-tropical system.

Forecast models show upwards of 5 inches of rainfall will be possible from Kirk’s remnants, as well as wind gusts that could approach hurricane-force, once the core of the system approaches Europe next week.

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Remnants could challenge records from ex-hurricanes

According to forecast models, Kirk's remnants could challenge some records produced during storm systems that originated as hurricanes.

Hurricane Ophelia in 2017 was labeled as one of the worst storms to impact the United Kingdom in decades, with several deaths and damage totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.

Met Éireann, the national meteorological service that services Ireland, reported the storm system produced winds greater than 70 mph, along with heavy rainfall.

Many trees were damaged and even an awning of a Cork City football stadium was crumbled during the windstorm.

Despite the damage, the name ‘Ophelia’ was not retired from naming lists by the World Meteorological Organization.

Hurricane names are retired when using the identification would be considered insensitive due to property damage and a significant loss of life.