The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Tropical Storm Fiona was getting a little stronger Thursday morning as it moved across the Atlantic.
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Tropical Storm Fiona has strengthened slightly early this morning; the storm bis now generating sustained winds of 45 miles per hour with gusts to 65 miles per hour.
It’s still something to watch over the next several days, but again I do not expect the future Fiona to be a threat to Southwest Louisiana.
If Fiona strengthens to a hurricane, then it is more likely to curve northward over the middle of the Atlantic, well east of Bermuda.
The Atlantic hurricane season seems to be picking up steam in August, as experts predicted, with the sixth tropical depression of the season formed overnight Tuesday.
We now have Tropical Storm Fiona, but we could have Tropical Storm Gaston in the next few days.
There is another disturbance moving westward over Africa and it is well-organized at this time.
On Aug. 17 at 11:24 a.m. EDT (15:24 UTC) the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite captured a visible light image of Tropical Depression 6 as it was strengthening into Tropical Storm Fiona. It’s the first in a series of monsoon waves rolling across the African tropics as the Cape Verde period gets underway.
Researchers say while only about 60 per cent of the Atlantic tropical storms and minor hurricanes (Saffir-Simpson Scale categories 1 and 2) originate from easterly waves, almost 85 per cent of the intense (or major) hurricanes have their origins as easterly waves (Landsea 1993). One particularly strong wave will be over the far E. Atlantic & may be a tropical cyclone by the weekend.
The area around Cabo Verde creates a prime breeding ground for tropical systems through much of September. By Friday, Six is expected to be upgraded to a tropical storm, with wind speeds ranging between 39 to 73 miles per hour (33 to 64 kts).
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NHC forecaster Blake said that “Little significant change is expected with Fiona’s intensity today due to gradually increasing shear”.
