Hurricane Danny strengthens into Category 2 hurricane

At 1 p.m., the National Hurricane Center reported Danny was located at 14.3 North, 48.6 West, which is east of the Lesser Antilles.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center says some additional strengthening is possible but Danny should start weakening on Saturday.

Hurricane hunter planes that flew over Danny on Friday again are scheduled to investigate the storm on Saturday afternoon.

The Department of Disaster Management continues to closely monitor Danny’s progress as it makes its way towards the Leeward Islands and will provide updates as necessary.

Forecasters said Friday at 11 a.m. that Danny was expected to reach the Leeward Islands area within 72 hours, then be near Puerto Rico in 96 hours and near Hispaniola within 120 hours.

Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 15 miles from the center and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 60 miles.

Tropical Storm Kilo is forecast to intensify into a Category 2 hurricane by Wednesday.

“There is no data from the National Hurricane Center and the Weather Prediction Center because there is still a lot of uncertainty”, said NWS meteorologist Jay Alamo. If the storm were to continue straight on this route, as some computer models indicate, we could be looking at Danny bearing down on Bermuda and Florida later next week. A turn to the west with an increase in forward speed is expected later today. So, although the winds have strengthened, the hurricane will cover much less ground that a hurricane such as Bill from 2009. On the other hand, given Danny’s small size, a slight shift in the forecast track could keep the storm away from the mountain islands.

There’s an even smaller chance that one of these storms will transform into a major hurricane. It also remains relatively unimpressive for a “major” storm, they said.

None of the first three storms reached hurricane status. But for nearly a decade, the country hasn’t seen a hurricane greater than a Category 3 storm, putting it in a nine-year hurricane “drought”. In 2012, hurricane-turned-cyclone Superstorm Sandy ravaged the Northeast with damaging flooding and powerful winds.