London, October 3 (RHC)-- In the eastern Atlantic, Hurricane Lorenzo struck the Azores on Wednesday, lashing the Portuguese territory with high winds and heavy surf as it passed just west of the archipelago as a Category 2 storm. 

At its peak, Lorenzo became a monster Category 5 cyclone with sustained winds of 160 miles per hour — the most powerful hurricane ever observed so far north and east in the Atlantic.  It’s now on course to strike Ireland as a rare extratropical cyclone with near-hurricane-force winds.

A recent study by British climate researchers found warmer ocean temperatures driven by human activity could triple the number of such storms by the end of the century.