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Hurricane Danny Update

By David Bernard, Storm Strategies, for SouthFloridaReporter.com, Aug 20, 2015 – Danny is the first hurricane of the 2015 season. The Atlantic typically sees its first hurricane around August 10th so it is a little behind schedule.

The storm is still about 1000 miles east of the Leeward Islands. It is not a threat to South Florida at this time. Highest sustained winds are near 80 mph and the storm is moving WNW at around 10 mph.

track

Danny is a very small hurricane. Tropical storm force winds extend out about 60 miles from the center. The hurricane force winds (74mph or greater) are only 10 miles from Danny’s eye.

When a storm is this small, there can be drastic changes in its strength (both weaker and stronger) in a short amount of time.

shear

Right now the storm is over warm water with little to no wind shear to tear it apart. However as the storm approaches the islands by this weekend, wind shear is forecast to increase and thereby weaken.

models

The intensity models are just about unanimous in weakening Danny to a tropical storm in the next few days.

There is an ongoing extreme drought across the Caribbean including Puerto Rico. Danny could be a welcome rainmaker for some.