Hurricane Bill: No storm of Category 3 intensity or stronger has hit Canada since recordkeeping began in 1851

Bill is a powerful hurricane and could regain Category 4 status today as it moves northwest toward Canada, the center said. Some refineries in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick may be at risk, including privately held Irving Oil’s Saint John plant that processes about 300,000 barrels of oil a day, according to Olivier Jakob, an analyst with research group Petromatrix GmbH in Zug, Switzerland.

SHOOT: Bill power shouldn't be surprising; as reported recently on this blog, average ocean temperatures are at 130 year highs. http://www.nickvanderleek.com/2009/08/worldwide-ocean-water-temperatures.html

clipped from www.bloomberg.com Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Bermuda put troops on standby and warned people to stay in their homes as Hurricane Bill spun through the Atlantic, threatening the island and the east coast of the U.S. with dangerous waves. The Category 3 storm, with winds of 120 miles (193 kilometers) per hour, is forecast to pass between Bermuda and the U.S. early tomorrow, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. “Stay off the roads, stay off the beaches and stay close to home,” the government of Bermuda said in a statement, placing the island under hurricane watch and ordering reservists to be ready for deployment. “We all remember Hurricane Fabian,” it said, referring to the 2003 storm that left four people dead on the island and caused an estimated $300 million in damage. Canadian authorities started issuing bulletins on Bill yesterday. No storm of Category 3 intensity or stronger has hit Canada since recordkeeping began in 1851, according to Peter Bowyer