Andrew Bray's blog
Web log entry dated 15 August 2007
First hurricane of the season?
It looks likely, according to several sources, that the first Atlantic hurricane of the season will develop from a newly formed Tropical Storm Dean.
Dean has the makings of a classic Cape Verde storm, born off the west coast of Africa and then developing first into a tropical depression and now a storm over the last couple of days.
What is of concern is the track (see diagram). If Dean does develop into a hurricane - and we'll know in the next few hours - he seems to have the central and northern Caribbean islands firmly in his sights. Prediction are that the storm will 'only' be a category 1 hurricane (74 - 95 mph) at this stage but of greater concern is that it might intensify further to a category 3 (111 - 130 mph) storm at which point it will be threatening the Cayman Islands, which were devastated by Ivan in 2004, Jamaica then Cuba.
Andrew Bray
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