Tropical Storm Irene nears hurricane strength
Posted on: Friday, 12 August 2005, 13:13 CDT
MIAMI (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Irene strengthened in the Atlantic Ocean on Friday and could become a minimal hurricane as it approaches the U.S. East Coast, forecasters said.
Irene did not immediately threaten land and was expected to loop away from the United States, but it was too early to be certain of that, forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
At 11 a.m. EDT/1500 GMT Irene was centered about 700 miles
southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and moving northwest.
It was expected to turn more to the north and then meander off the coast of the Carolinas and the mid-Atlantic states by Wednesday. Forecasters expected it to eventually turn harmlessly back out to sea, but there was still a chance it could come ashore anywhere from the Carolinas to New York or New England.
Irene had sustained winds near 65 mph (100 mph). It was expected to reach hurricane strength of 74 mph (118 kph), then move over cooler waters that would keep it from strengthening beyond a minimal hurricane.
Irene was the ninth tropical storm of a busy Atlantic-Caribbean hurricane season that is just approaching what is traditionally the most active period. Most storms form between late August and early October, with the peak of the season in early September.
Source: REUTERS
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