Hurricane Danny

Hurricane Danny

Danny was gathering strength on Thursday as it nosed towards Cape Cod on the north-eastern coast and possibly Canada, forecasters said, urging locals to stay on their guard. The Miami-based National Hurricane Centre said the storm had top winds of 60 mph and could become a hurricane by Saturday. It could potentially make landfall on Cape Cod, the Massachusetts peninsula that houses the Kennedy family compound where Senator Edward Kennedy died this week.

But that path could change, forecasters said.

Located 370 miles east-northeast of Nassau on the Bahamas, and 575 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, the storm was expected to gather speed and veer to the north on Friday. “Slow strengthening is forecast during the next couple of days,” the NHC said. Danny previously was used to name a July 1997 hurricane that brought record rain fall for Alabama, at least 36.71 inches on Dauphin Island.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Tropical Storm Danny is likely to be formed into the season's second hurricane later in this week. The eye of Tropical Storm Danny was located approximately 445 miles east of Nassau and 775 miles south to southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Currently, the Tropical Storm Danny is at 45 miles per hour. It is not a Category 1 hurricane which requires wind speeds of at 75 miles per hour. Danny was expected to follow a northwesterly track through Thursday, staying north and east of the Bahamas. The storm was then expected to turn north on Friday before curving to the northeast over the weekend, the forecaster AccuWeather.com said, on a similar path of last weekend's first hurricane of the 2009 season, Bill.

Tropical Storm Danny

Tropical Storm Danny

Tropical Storm Danny, which formed in the Atlantic Ocean today near the Bahamas, is expected to gain strength as it approaches the United States, according to the Associated Press. Most storm models predict that the storm will avoid the Southeastern coast and head to the Northeast, similar to the path Hurricane Bill followed recently. Yet hurricane trackers stress that tropical storms often change their paths, so Florida natives and travelers to Florida (and other parts of the Southeast) should monitor the storms through the National Hurricane Center Web site.

Tropical Storm Danny could be off Delmarva Saturday That tropical disturbance in the Atlantic north of Puerto Rico has strengthened to tropical storm force and earned the name Danny. Forecasters say it will likely become a hurricane by this weekend, brush the Carolina coast and be off the Delmarva peninsula by Saturday morning. Here's AccuWeather.com's take on the new storm. The fourth named storm of the season was packing top sustained winds of 45 mph, with some slow strengthening expected in the next few days. At 73 mph it would become a Category 1 hurricane, the second of the season.

At 11 a.m. Wednesday the storm's center was reported to be 775 miles south southeast of Cape Hatteras, moving toward the west northwest at 18 mph. The National Hurricane Center's forecast track map takes the storm to a position just off the Outer Banks by early Saturday, where it is expected to be at hurricane strength. According to the St. Petersburg Times, Danny is currently moving to the west-northwest but is expected to move toward the north-northwest Friday. Winds are about 45 miles per hour today but could increase over the next few days.