• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Hurricane Dennis churns past Florida Keys

Posted on: Saturday, 9 July 2005, 12:52 CDT

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Hurricane Dennis, weakened to a Category 2 hurricane after crossing Cuba, was churning west of the Florida Keys with winds near 100 mph on Saturday morning, said the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Dennis may strengthen to a Category 3 hurricane as it moves across warmer waters in The Gulf of Mexico, but much will depend on how organized the storm's eye can become, the Hurricane Center said.

"It would not take much convection to develop around the eye for Dennis to make a significant comeback in a short period of time," the center said.

A projected track still shows the storm moving through the eastern Gulf Saturday and Sunday, making landfall somewhere between Mobile, Alabama, and Pensacola, Florida, Sunday night.

Hurricane warnings were in effect for the Florida Keys from Seven Mile Bridge westward to the Dry Tortugas and for the northeastern Gulf coast from the Steinhatchee River westward to the Pearl River.

Tropical storm warnings are in effect for Florida's west coast from the Steinhatchee River southward and from Golden Beach southward. Also a tropical storm warning is in effect for southeastern Louisiana.

As of 11 a.m. CDT, the eye of Hurricane Dennis was located about 135 miles west of Key West, Florida.

The storm was moving northwest at 14 mph with winds about 100 mph, making Dennis a category 2 Hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson rating scale.

Dennis is the earliest Category 4 hurricane to develop in the Caribbean, and it is the strongest hurricane to develop this early in the Atlantic storm season, NHC said.

The NHC will issue its next advisory at 5 p.m. EDT.

Source: REUTERS

More News in this Category