Tropical storm may get worse
About the article
This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from September 1986.
Brought to you by
With maximum sustained winds of 50 mph and gusts reaching 63 mph, Danielle was moving westward at 20 to 25 mph and expected to move through the Windward Islands in the Caribbean this morning.
"We're forecasting a very slow or gradual increase," said hurricane specialist Bob Case. Warm water temperatures and wind patterns favored strengthening, but close proximity to the coast of South America would prohibit development, he said.
However, the storm would intensify rapidly in the next day or two if it turns north into the centre of the Caribbean Sea as expected, Case said.
In the Lesser Antilles, the governments of Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago issued gale warnings for Barbados, St. Vincent, the Grenadines, Grenada and its dependencies and Tobago. Forecasters warned that gale force winds could be accompanied by storm surge flooding of up to 3 feet above normal high tide.
Conditions remained favorable for continued strengthening, said forecaster Miles Lawrence, adding that the islands in Danielle's likely path lacked land mass necessary to slow its development. "This is the right time of year for that to happen," Lawrence said. "It has all the ingredients necessary."
Lawrence said he expected Danielle to reach the central Caribbean within three days. The storm formed off the African coast over Cape Verde about Sept. 1. Cape Verde storms are the tropical weather systems from which hurricanes often develop.
Three other named storms have formed since the 1986 Atlantic hurricane season began June 1. Tropical storm Andrew died in the Atlantic before hitting land, hurricane Bonnie swept through Louisiana and Texas, leaving three dead, and hurricane. Charley smashed into North Carolina's outer banks and the midAtlantic coast, causing at least five deaths. A tropical depression becomes a named tropical storm when sustained winds reach 39 mph and a hurricane at 74 mph or higher.
