
First named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season forms
The National Hurricane Center in Miami, Fla., says Tropical Storm Andrea is a small, gale-force low-pressure system.
The storm is producing showers and thunderstorms over the central Atlantic.
But forecasters say satellite images indicate Andrea will likely be a short-lived tropical storm.
The centre says the environmental conditions about 1,400 kilometres east of Bermuda are expected to prevent the storm from gaining any strength by this evening, and it is expected to dissipate on Wednesday.
Last month, the Canadian Hurricane Centre in Halifax predicted another active year for tropical storms.
The Halifax-based centre has calculated that between 35 and 40 per cent of all tropical storms typically enter the Canadian zone, which extends from Ontario eastward to Atlantic Canada's sprawling offshore.
As a result, between two and four named storms can be expected to enter the Canadian zone every year.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Winnipeg Free Press
14 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Summer celebrations meet closed beaches and warnings on US East Coast due to Hurricane Erin
RODANTHE, N.C. (AP) — From Florida to New England, people trying to enjoy the last hurrahs of summer along the coast were met with rip-current warnings, closed beaches and in some cases already treacherous waves as Hurricane Erin inched closer Wednesday. While forecasters remain confident that the center of the monster storm will stay far offshore, the outer edges are expected to bring high winds, large swells and life-threatening rip currents into Friday. But the biggest swells along the East Coast could come as early as Wednesday. New York City closed its beaches to swimming on Wednesday and Thursday, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul ordered three state beaches on Long Island to prohibit swimming through Thursday. Several New Jersey beaches also will be temporarily off-limits, while some towns in Delaware have cut off ocean access. Off Massachusetts, Nantucket Island could see waves of more than 10 feet (3 meters) later this week. But the biggest threat is along the barrier islands of North Carolina's Outer Banks, where evacuations have been ordered. Erin has become an unusually large and deceptively worrisome storm, with its tropical storm winds stretching 230 miles (370 kilometers) from its core. Forecasters expect it will grow larger in size as it moves through the Atlantic and curls north. On Tuesday it lashed the Turks and Caicos Islands, where government services were suspended and residents were ordered to stay home, along with parts of the Bahamas before its expected turn toward Bermuda. Tropical storm watches were issued for Virginia and North Carolina as well as Bermuda. Erin lost some strength from previous days and was a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (161 kph), the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. It was about 540 miles (870 kilometers) south-southeast of North Carolina's Cape Hatteras. On the Outer Banks, Erin's storm surge could swamp roads with waves of 15 feet (4.6 meters). Mandatory evacuations were ordered on Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands. More than 1,800 people had left Ocracoke by ferry since Monday. North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein warned coastal residents to be prepared to evacuate and declared a state of emergency Tuesday. Bulldozers shored up the dunes, and trucks from the local power company on Ocracoke were on hand to respond to downed wires. Some side roads already saw some flooding on Hatteras, and the owners of a pier removed a few planks, hoping the storm surge would pass through without tearing it up. Most residents decided to stay even though memories are still fresh of Hurricane Dorian in 2019, when 7 feet (2.1 meters) of water swamped Ocracoke, county commissioner Randal Mathews said. Tom Newsom, who runs fishing charters on Hatteras, said has lived there almost 40 years and never evacuated. He was not going to this time either. Comparing this hurricane to others he has seen, he called this one a 'nor'easter on steroids.' The Outer Banks' thin stretch of low-lying barrier islands jutting into the Atlantic are increasingly vulnerable to storm surges. There are concerns that parts of the main highway could be washed out, leaving some routes impassible for days. And dozens of beach homes already worn down from chronic beach erosion and the loss of protective dunes could be at risk, said David Hallac, superintendent of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Farther south, no evacuations were ordered but some beach access points were closed with water levels up to 3 feet (1 meter) over normal high tides expected for several days. Climate scientists say Atlantic hurricanes are now much more likely to rapidly intensify into powerful and catastrophic storms fueled by warmer oceans. Two years ago Hurricane Lee grew with surprising speed while barreling offshore through the Atlantic, unleashing violent storms and rip currents. ___ Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press journalists Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut; Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina; Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia; Hallie Golden in Seattle; Leah Willingham in Boston; Safiyah Riddle in Montgomery, Alabama; and Julie Walker in New York contributed.


Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
It's the time of year for Cape Verde hurricanes, the longest and most powerful storms
They are the hurricanes of legend, the bowling balls that cross the entire Atlantic Ocean, menaced ships of yore and make the long, curved lines on the hurricane charts. Cape Verde storms, named for the group of islands about 450 miles (725 kilometers) off the west coast of Africa, typically form from clusters of thunderstorms that move off the continent and into the Atlantic. With thousands of miles of ocean water above the 80-degree Fahrenheit (27-degree Celsius) temperature needed to fuel hurricanes, Cape Verde storms are some of the most dangerous that threaten North America. About 85% of all major hurricanes — Category 3 and higher — start out there, according to the National Hurricane Center. 'They are the media stars and certainly get a lot of attention because you can track them for a long time,' said Jeff Masters, a meteorologist for Yale Climate Connections. But they also are a rare threat. Less than one out of every 10 of the storms crash into the U.S. The rest either fall apart or are curved out to sea by the north and east steering winds that normally prevail over the Atlantic. Now is the time to turn to the east Conditions need to be just right for Cape Verde storms to form and grow, keeping them mostly confined to August and September. Hurricane Erin is a Cape Verde storm. The National Hurricane Center is watching two more clusters of storms to the east of Erin that could develop into tropical storms. But the atmosphere is too complex to know how strong those storms can be if they develop or whether any of them will threaten the U.S. Forecasters begin to lose confidence in their ability to predict the future of any specific storms more than a week out. It takes at least 10 days for a potential hurricane to cross the Atlantic Ocean. Warn weather and light winds help Cape Verde storms grow Cape Verde storms start over Africa where the hot dry air in the Sahara and the hot humid air over the Gulf of Guinea clash and create clusters of thunderstorms that move off the continent. The warm water is the first ingredient. Hurricanes also thrive with light winds above them that won't blow the thunderstorms away from the center. 'They are the strongest because they have the most time to develop. The other storms can crash into land too early,' Masters said.) Researchers have spent the past several years studying the ocean and atmosphere in the far eastern Atlantic to get a better idea of why some storms form and some don't. In recent years, scientists have realized that dry air and dust from the Sahara in Africa blown into the Atlantic from the east can lessen the high humidity hurricanes need and inhibit their development. The dust can travel all the way across the ocean and settle on cars and windows on the U.S. East Coast. 'They travel about a mile above the surface, the winds are very strong, and the air is dry and hot. That's a trifecta that suppresses hurricane activity,' Jason Dunion, a scientist at the University of Miami's Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies told the university. 1 or 2 hurricanes a year are Cape Verde storms Some years may not see a Cape Verde storm at all. Some can see as many as four or five. But on average about one or two hurricanes a year are classified as Cape Verde storms, according to the National Hurricane Center. And they aren't the only storms to hit the U.S. The Weather Channel analyzed hurricanes since 1995 and found only nine of the 60 that struck the U.S. were the ones that track all the way across the Atlantic. The storms you remember The list of famous Cape Verde hurricanes has a lot of overlap with the list of the most memorable, powerful and deadliest hurricanes. There is the 1900 Galveston Hurricane that killed about 8,000 people in Texas and the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane that killed 2,500 in Florida. In more recent times, hurricanes Donna in 1960 in Florida, Hugo in 1989 in South Carolina, Andrew in 1992 in Florida, Ivan in Grand Cayman, Alabama and Florida in 2004, Ike in Texas in 2008, Irma in Cuba, Puerto Rico and Florida in 2017 and Florence in North Carolina in 2018 were all Cape Verde storms.


CTV News
2 hours ago
- CTV News
Wednesday the odd day out
Calgary Watch Overall, the week will be quiet and bright in Calgary, but Wednesday is the day we have some instability in the forecast.