A pair of tropical cyclones, Imelda and Humberto, churned through the Atlantic Basin in late September 2025. Although both storms were forecast to stay over the ocean, they still sent heavy rain, gusty winds, and dangerous surf to the northern Caribbean, the Bahamas, Bermuda, and the U.S. East Coast.
Tropical Storm Imelda and Hurricane Humberto appear together in this image, acquired with the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) on the Suomi NPP satellite on September 28. That afternoon, Imelda was moving northward through the Bahamas with sustained winds of 40 miles (64 kilometers) per hour. Meanwhile, Humberto was approximately 700 miles (1,100 kilometers) east of the Bahamas and moving northwest. Its maximum sustained winds were 150 miles (240 kilometers) per hour at the time, making it a Category 4 storm. The previous day, Humberto reached Category 5 strength—the second Atlantic hurricane to do so this season.
Imelda had already brought tropical storm conditions to portions of the central and northwestern Bahamas. Prior to becoming a named storm, the system also lashed Puerto Rico and eastern Cuba with heavy rain. In the coming days, Imelda could intensify and cause flash and urban flooding along the coast of the Carolinas, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Although Humberto lurked farther from land, its effects still reached coastlines due to its massive size. Dangerous surf conditions affected beaches in the northern Caribbean, the Bahamas, and Bermuda, as well as much of the U.S. East Coast. Mid-Atlantic and even some Northeast states could see large swells and rip currents stemming from the storm, forecasters warned.
Conditions along the U.S. Atlantic Coast, particularly from Imelda, may be less severe than previously expected, however. That’s because Humberto, being relatively close by, could influence Imelda’s track and draw it away from shore. This sort of interaction between neighboring tropical cyclones is a rare phenomenon known as the Fujiwhara Effect. The storms’ potential tug-of-war presents forecasting challenges, but as of the morning of September 29, Imelda was projected to take an abrupt turn to the east-northeast. No Atlantic hurricanes have made landfall thus far in 2025.
NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using VIIRS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE, GIBS/Worldview, and the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership. Story by Lindsey Doermann.
