Hurricane danger grows for US

2010-09-14 14:03

Miami - Tropical Storm Julia grew in the far eastern Atlantic into the fifth hurricane of the Atlantic season while Hurricane Igor weakened slightly but remained a dangerous Category 4 storm, forecasters said.

The two hurricanes did not yet pose any immediate threat to land or energy interests.

Julia reached hurricane status with maximum sustained winds of 120km/h and was located some 535km west of the Cape Verde Islands early on Tuesday morning, the Miami-based US National Hurricane Centre said.

Julia, the 10th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, is moving toward the west-northwest as a Category 1 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity, the centre said.

"Some additional strengthening is forecast during the next day or so," the centre said.

Hurricane Igor lost intensity and changed direction in the Atlantic but still packed a punch, the centre said.

Igor, now moving to the west-northwest from its previous westward direction, was located about 1 200km east of the northern Leeward Islands with maximum sustained winds at 215km/h, the centre said. Igor was forecast to take a turn toward the northwest on Wednesday.

Too soon to rule out impact

"Some fluctuations in intensity are possible during the next couple of days but Igor is expected to remain a dangerous hurricane through Wednesday," the centre said.

Igor remained strong enough to cause catastrophic damage. It was too soon to rule out an impact on the US East Coast, but the chances of such a landfall were viewed as slim.

Computer models keep Igor in the Atlantic and away from the Gulf of Mexico, where US oil and gas operations are clustered. A west-northwest track would take it near Bermuda on Saturday, but a sharper northerly turn would keep it over the open Atlantic.

"Bermuda's probably at the greatest risk of seeing an impact from Igor, but it's too soon to say whether it would approach the (US) East Coast," Michael Brennan, a senior hurricane specialist at the hurricane centre, said.

So far this year, the atmospheric conditions that steer hurricanes in the western Atlantic have co-operated to push them away from the densely populated US coastline.

Ocean swells generated by Igor will begin affecting the Leeward Islands on Tuesday and will reach Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands late on Tuesday and Wednesday, causing life-threatening surf and rip current conditions, the hurricane centre said.

Most forecasters predicted the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season would be extremely active. Besides Igor and Julia, three hurricanes - Alex, Danielle and Earl - formed earlier in the season, the last two reaching Category 4 strength.

- Reuters