Danny, the Atlantic Season’s First Hurricane!

As of 11AM EDT The National Hurricane Center has upgraded Danny to a hurricane, making it the first of the 2015 Atlantic season. Hurricane Danny is packing winds of 75mph. It’s forward speed has also taken a shift to WNW at 12mph. Danny is currently forecast to remain on this WNW track for the next few days as it approaches the northern Leeward Islands and the Puerto Rico region after that. Its interaction with land will likely weaken it some but it is still too far out to know how much of an interaction danny will have with any mountainous land masses such as Puerto Rico. The entire Gulf Coast and Eastern Seaboard need to continue to monitor Danny closely over the weekend. It is still to far out to say if Danny will have any impact on the lower 48. I will continue to keep you informed of it’s progress these next several days. Now is the time to get your hurricane preparedness plans in place so you know what to do should Danny approach your area. Below is the latest official forecast track and discussion from The National Hurricane Center for Hurricane Danny.

DISCUSSION AND 48-HOUR OUTLOOK
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At 1100 AM AST (1500 UTC), the center of the eye of Hurricane Danny
was located by satellite near latitude 12.5 North, longitude 44.8
West. Danny is moving toward the west-northwest near 12 mph (19
km/h) and this general motion is expected to continue for the next
couple of days.

Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 75 mph (120 km/h)
with higher gusts. Some additional strengthening is forecast during
the next 48 hours.

Danny is a small tropical cyclone.  Hurricane-force winds only
extend outward up to 10 miles (20 km) from the center and
tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 60 miles (95 km).

The estimated minimum central pressure is 992 mb (29.30 inches).

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