Hurricane Margot Spaghetti Models Show Rare Destination

Hurricane Margot continues its path through the Atlantic Ocean, far from any areas of land, although some forecast models show impacts from the storm reaching unusual destinations.

As of Wednesday morning, Margot had sustained wind speeds of 85 miles per hour, making it a Category 1 hurricane. The storm is moving northward at 12 miles per hour, according to a public advisory from the National Hurricane Center (NHC), and the storm's forward speed is anticipated to fall through Thursday morning. The NHC expects that the storm will then stall or "meander within weak steering currents" into the weekend.

Many spaghetti models show the storm fizzling out in the Atlantic Ocean with zero impact to land, but a few of the models show unusual, but not unprecedented, destinations. Spaghetti models are computer models illustrating potential storm paths.

One model showed the storm veering to the northwest and has remnants of the storm hitting southern Greenland, although an updated model shows the storm veering further west and dissipating in the Labrador Sea, off the coast of Newfoundland in Canada.

Another model shows the storm taking a northeastern turn and skirting past the United Kingdom, with some models showing the storm aiming toward Portugal and the Bay of Biscay.

AccuWeather senior meteorologist Tom Kines told Newsweek that there is a "really small" chance that the storm will make it to Greenland. However, it's more common for storms to make it to the U.K.

"It's not necessarily a tropical storm or a hurricane anymore, but strong areas of low pressure," Kines said of the storms that make it to the U.K. "They can cause wind damage, heavy rain and a lot of rough waters."

Kines added that if Margot were to shift toward the U.K., it wouldn't happen "anytime soon." He expects the storm to meander in the Atlantic Ocean for days.

"It may never move toward a land mass," he told Newsweek. "It may just sit out there and dissipate."

Most models predict that Hurricane Margot will remain a Category 1 with one model anticipating the storm could continue gaining strength into a Category 4.

Greenland is not known to have many hurricanes given its low temperatures, although the country does experience strong winds. Hurricanes require warm tropical ocean waters to form and gain energy, meaning they often peter out before reaching cooler regions.

Although rare, Greenland has been hit by hurricanes in the past. In September 2022, the remnants of Hurricane Fiona made landfall near Maniitsoq, on the country's southwest coast, bringing a deluge of rain to the nation. Greenland receives on average about one hurricane per year, although the chances of this storm making it there are low.

The United Kingdom also rarely sees hurricanes, considering the cool sea temperatures surrounding the nation. Hurricanes are unable to form in the area, although some remnants of storms do make it to the U.K. Usually the storm must become extratropical, meaning they move poleward and shift their energy source.

However, to the west of Margot, Hurricane Lee continues its trek toward the Eastern Seaboard as a Category 3 hurricane with sustained wind speeds of 115 miles per hour.

The large storm—which boasts hurricane-force winds extending 115 miles from its center—could make landfall by the weekend. The storm is anticipated to pass west of Bermuda by late Thursday and then continue on its trek to the New England coast and Atlantic Canada.

In August, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) updated its forecast for the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season, amending it to be much busier than initially forecast.

Between 14 and 21 named storms are predicted during the hurricane season, which ends November 30. The forecast is an increase from the 12 to 17 named storms prediction made in May.

NOAA anticipates that between six and 11 of the named storms could become hurricanes, with two to five having potential to evolve into major hurricanes. An average year has 14 named storms.