Tropical Storm Danny Strengthening in Atlantic

By SHERRI LONON (Patch Staff)

As Tropical Storm Danny continues to strengthen as it slowly moves westward across the Atlantic, the National Weather Service anticipates it will become the season’s first hurricane by Friday.

“Tropical Storm Danny is still moving westward over the central tropical Atlantic Ocean, centered late this morning about 1,385 miles east of the Lesser Antilles,” the National Weather Service reported in its 11 a.m. Wednesday update. “A west to northwest motion at a slightly slower forward speed is expected during the next 48 hours.”

The storm currently has maximum sustained winds near 50 mph, forecasters say. Some strengthening is anticipated over the next two days with Danny predicated to become a hurricane by Friday.

The storm is moving west at 12 mph. Forecasters anticipate Danny will be just southeast of Puerto Rico by Monday if it continues on its current path.

While Tropical Storm Danny is the big news out of the Atlantic, another disturbance is also being tracked. As of 8 a.m. Wednesday, that storm was located a few hundred miles out from Bermuda. It has a 30 percent chance of forming into a tropical depression over the next five days.

While neither storm currently poses an immediate threat to the United States, forecasters say they bear careful monitoring.

Check out your local Patch’s homepage for an extended forecast for your neighborhood.

Graphic courtesy of the National Hurricane Center

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 11:24 a.m. Aug. 19 with the latest information from the National Weather Service.