The storm was located 520 miles (840 kilometers) east-southeast of the Leeward Islands late Saturday, with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (105 kph).
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It has now been downgraded to Tropical Storm Danny, and it is getting ready to wallop the Caribbean’s Leeward Islands over the next 24 hours. On Saturday night the storm was centred about 660 miles from the Leeward Islands. Even if Danny continues to weaken, rainfall could lead to serious problems in a region with a long history of fatal mudslides. The storm’s center could hit the Dominican Republic early Wednesday and the eastern part of Cuba on Thursday, according to the forecast.
National Hurricane Center forecasters expect Danny will weaken over the weekend and arrive in the Lesser Antilles on Monday as a tropical storm.
Danny was a category three hurricane on Friday, but has greatly weakened over the past 48 hours.
Monday: Partly sunny, warm & humid, chance for late day showers and t’storms. “A pair of reconnaissance aircraft from both the U.S. Air Force Reserve and NOAA will fly into Danny Saturday afternoon to better diagnose Danny’s current intensity”.
It is expected to dissipate into an open wave before coming anywhere close to the United States.
Hurricane Andrew struck South Florida and south-central Louisiana in August 1992 with 175-mph winds, wiping out entire communities, killing 23 people and causing more than $25 billion in damage.
Danny isn’t the only thing to watch in the Atlantic, however. This system is poised to become our next named storm which would be Erika. A large, semi-permanent area of high pressure will strengthen to the north of these systems, pushing them along towards the west, as opposed to the storms curving north and staying away from land.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic basin, the Hurricane Center is monitoring two other storms. There are fears of more water-rationing in major cities. The Hurricane Center said remains a tiny hurricane.
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Indeed, the same wind shear that’s dismantling Danny is likely the biggest reason for such a stretch of quiet storm years.
