Hurricane Ophelia is the 10th straight hurricane in the Atlantic, matching a 124-year record as the storm became a Category 2 on Thursday.
The milestone was last reached in 1893, said Phil Klotzbach, a storm researcher at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Bloomberg reported.
“I am not quite sure what to make of it,” Klotzbach said. “It is a ‘gee-whiz’ record.”
The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Ophelia is barely moving and is continuing to strengthen, now boasting top sustained winds of 100 mph. On Thursday afternoon, Ophelia's core was located about 715 miles southwest of the Azores, The Associated Press reported.
The Miami-based hurricane center says Ophelia should lose a little strength in the next 48 hours but is expected to remain a hurricane for the next couple of days. The hurricane center's five-day forecast, which can change, has Ophelia heading close to the British Isles by Monday afternoon.
Ophelia is the 15th storm of a 2017 hurricane season that ranks eighth all-time in terms of accumulated cyclone energy, a measure of storm power and longevity. The Atlantic also produced 10 consecutive hurricanes in 1876 and 1886.
The season has been “very active in case people weren’t already convinced of it,” Klotzbach said.