Danny becomes the first hurricane of the season
The National Hurricane Center late this morning upgraded Tropical Storm Danny in the eastern Atlantic to hurricane status — a Category 1 with winds calculated at 80 miles per hour.
At 5 p.m. this afternoon, the storm was about 1,030 miles east of the Windward Islands and was moving west-northwest at 10 mph.
The Hurricane Center said that Danny was an unusually small tropical cyclone with hurricane force winds extending outward for only 10 miles from the center and tropical storm winds for up to 60 miles. Because of its small size, forecasters said that fluctuations in intensity will be hard to predict.
Danny is expected to continue on its current track for the 48 to 72 hours and then be forced by conditions to a more westward track on Days 4 and 5. It is expected to intensify slightly for the day or so, with winds peaking at about 85 mph, before conditions begin to take some of the steam out of the storm.
By Tuesday afternoon, Danny is forecast to be near Puerto Rico, with winds down to tropical storm force.
The hurricane’s track beyond five days is still unclear. A Hurricane Hunter aircraft will fly into the storm tomorrow to investigate.
Meanwhile, the Hurricane Center is also keeping an eye on an area of disturbed weather near Bermuda. A low pressure system is forecast to form in the area in the next day or so, and conditions could support some tropical or sub-tropical development over the weekend as the low moves slowly north.
