Hurricane Danny strengthens into Category 2 hurricane as it moves westward

Hurricane Danny, the first hurricane of the 2015 Atlantic Hurricane Season, continues to strengthen. Weakening is forecast within the next 48 hours.

A NOAA research plane will investigate Danny Friday afternoon and an Air Force reconnaissance plane will visit the storm on Saturday, each providing new data to better predict Danny’s future.

Danny is indeed a tiny storm relative to most Category 2s.

A storm has to have maximum sustained winds of 39 miles per hour to get a name.

There were two other areas of interest near Africa’s west coast – one tropical wave had moved off the coast but the other was still on land as of Friday morning.

Drought is plaguing numerous Caribbean islands, so rainfall from a tropical system would be welcome in many places, AccuWeather meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said. A particularly interesting question that only time will answer: can Danny somehow navigate the obstacles of dry air, wind shear, and mountainous islands and slip closer to North America? If that were to happen and Danny could “survive” the shear, there would be an opportunity for re-intensification down the road.

It may reach Puerto Rico by next Tuesday.

All that said, Danny is far from a concern for Louisiana – at least not just yet.

The storm is now quite small, with hurricane-force winds extending only 10 miles, the hurricane center said.