By Danny Valentine, Times Staff Writer
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Tropical Storm Earl was expected to strengthen to a hurricane by late Friday or early Saturday as it moves west-northwest across the open Atlantic, hurricane forecasters said early Thursday morning.
The south-central Atlantic storm was far from land Thursday morning (map). Projections showed it moving mostly to the west over the next two days, then curling northwest near the Leeward Islands.
"Sunday night or Monday we're going to have to watch to see if it turns more northwest," Bay News 9 meteorologist Juli Marquez said.
The fifth named storm of the season, Earl had sustained winds of 45 mph, with higher gusts, and was moving around 16 mph. Fueled by warm waters and unthreatened by heavy wind shear, the storm was expected to strengthen for a few days, Marquez said.
Also in the open Atlantic, Hurricane Danielle had reattained Category 2 status, with winds over 100 mph. It was expected to grow into a Category 3 hurricane by Thursday night or Friday. It was moving northwest and most projections showed it staying to the east of Bermuda for several days.
Category 2 hurricanes have winds between 96 and 110 mph.
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