Saturday, August 22, 2015

Hurricane Danny Hits Cat 3, Appears Set To Destroy Cuba

Destroy may be a bit harsh/overstated, first it has to get past Puerto Rico and Hispaniola which are currently projected to weaken it back down to Tropical Storm status.

Here's the Cone of Uncertainty, from Wunderground, 5:16 pm GMT Friday:

And here's the discussion:
Going against the grain of a hurricane-snuffing El Niño event, a tiny tropical cyclone has become the strongest hurricane in years over the deep Atlantic tropics. Hurricane Danny intensified dramatically on Thursday night and Friday morning, strengthening to Category 3 status on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. At 11:00 am EDT, Danny was located near 14.0°N, 48.2°W, about 930 miles east of the Leeward Islands, and still moving west-northwest at a modest clip of around 10 mph. At 11:00 am EDT, Danny’s top sustained winds were estimated at close to 105 mph. Indicative of Danny’s unusually compact size, hurricane-force winds extended only 15 miles from the storm’s center, and tropical-storm-force winds extended out up to 70 miles. It can be difficult for satellite-based instruments to estimate the intensity of very small hurricanes like Danny due to limited sensor resolution, but it’s clear that Danny is a surprisingly well-organized hurricane....MUCH MORE