Danielle Passes Bermuda as Category 2 Hurricane; Storm Earl to Strengthen

Danielle, downgraded to a Category 2 hurricane, was blowing northeast and forecast to weaken slightly over the next two days after passing Bermuda, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Maximum sustained winds were 105 miles (165 kilometers) an hour, the Miami-based center said in its latest advisory at 11 p.m. New York time yesterday. The system was 355 miles east of Bermuda and moving northeast at 20 mph, the center said.

While a tropical storm watch for Bermuda was discontinued, the east coast of the U.S. will experience swells generated by the storm, which may cause dangerous rip currents throughout the weekend, the center said.

Tropical Storm Earl, also in the Atlantic, is about 465 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands, with increased maximum sustained winds of about 65 mph, the center said. The system, forecast to strengthen and become a hurricane later today, is moving west at 20 mph.

Hurricane warnings have been issued for Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, St. Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla, the center said. A hurricane watch has been issued for St. Maarten, the British Virgin Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, according to the update.

The hurricane center said it is also tracking a tropical wave that is moving west at 15 mph to 20 mph about 350 miles southwest of the southernmost Cape Verde islands. It has an 80 percent chance of becoming a tropical cyclone during the next two days, the center said. Tropical cyclones are rotating systems that range from depressions to hurricanes.

To contact the reporter on this story: James Paton in Sydney jpaton4@bloomberg.net.

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