At a Glance

Hurricane Epsilon is tracking well to the east of Bermuda.Some tropical storm-force gusts were recorded in Bermuda Thursday.Epsilon rapidly intensified into the fourth major hurricane of 2020 earlier.

Hurricane Epsilon is passing well to the east of Bermuda, where tropical storm conditions occurred at times Thursday. It's not a U.S. threat, but it's generating high surf along the East Coast.

Epsilon's center passed 200 miles east of Bermuda Thursday, far enough east to spare Bermuda from the worst of its wind, rain and storm surge impacts.

However, Epsilon's large size brought some tropical storm force wind gusts just over 40 mph, at times, to Bermuda Thursday, where a tropical storm warning was issued.

Forecast Path and Intensity

(The red-shaded area denotes the potential path of the center of the tropical cyclone. It's important to note that impacts (particularly heavy rain, high surf, coastal flooding, winds) with any tropical cyclone usually spread beyond its forecast path.)

Epsilon backed down to a Category 1 hurricane after undergoing rapid intensification Tuesday night into Wednesday.

Maximum sustained winds in Epsilon increased from 65 mph to 115 mph in the 24 hours ending 5 p.m. EDT Wednesday. That easily met the criteria for the rapid intensification of a tropical cyclone, which is a wind speed increase of at least 35 mph in 24 hours or less.

Epsilon was the and the fourth major (Category 3 or stronger) hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. It also became the , according to Sam Lillo, a NOAA scientist based in Boulder, Colorado.

After passing east of Bermuda, Epsilon will curl sharply northeast and speed up this weekend as it becomes caught up in the jet stream over the North Atlantic.

Its remnant is then forecast to develop an intense non-tropical cyclone near Iceland early next week, a common occurrence of tropical cyclones "recurving" from the tropics into higher latitudes.

This large Icelandic low could then lash parts of Ireland and the United Kingdom with strong, potentially damaging winds, and also generate huge waves and swells which could pound the coast from Ireland to France to the Iberian Peninsula.

This system is not a threat to the U.S. East Coast.

However, the pressure difference between high pressure over Canada and the North Atlantic Ocean and Epsilon's low pressure center will generate swells that will push toward parts of the East Coast, leading to high surf and rip currents which could linger into Saturday before subsiding.

This rough surf will also affect the Bahamas, and north-facing coasts of Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the Leeward Islands.

(MORE: Hurricane Season is Far From Over)

Season Status

We've now blown through 26 storms this season, requiring the use of the Greek alphabet for additional named storms for only the second time.

The used up the first six letters of the Greek alphabet, but it took until the end of December for "Zeta" to form that year.

Greek names used in 2020 Atlantic hurricane season through Epsilon. Names grayed out were not used in the record 2005 Atlantic hurricane season.

One unnamed subtropical storm was found in post-analysis of the 2005 season, thus bringing that season's record total to 28 storms.

Epsilon Recap

Epsilon became the 26th named storm of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season late Monday morning, beating the previous record earliest 26th storm of the 2005 hurricane season - - by over a month, according to Phil Klotzbach, Colorado State University tropical scientist.

Epsilon strengthened into the Atlantic's 10th hurricane of the season Tuesday night, joining since the mid-1960s that have generated 10 or more hurricanes by October 21, according to Klotzbach.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, .