Danny Threatens from the Atlantic

The Atlantic has gotten the first major hurricane of the season, in what has long been forecast to be a year with fewer than the normal number of hurricanes and major hurricanes.

The season’s first hurricane is Danny, currently located about 900 miles east of the Eastern Caribbean, with peak winds of 115 mph.

What’s unusual for a hurricane in this area is that Danny is expected to weaken rather than strengthen as he approaches Guadeloupe, Antigua, St. Barth, St. Martin, the Virgins and Puerto Rico. Danny is also an unusually tiny hurricane, as hurricane-force winds have been found to extend only 10 miles out from the eye.

The unusual aspects of Danny are welcome news for us at Latitude, as we have two boats in his general path: The Olson 30 La Gamelle on a trailer in St. Barth, and the Leopard 45 cat ‘ti Profligate on the hard and strapped down at North Sound Marina, Antigua. If you have a boat in the region, we’re keeping our fingers crossed for yours, too.

The good news is that Danny is expected to bring a bit of rain to the region, which, like California, has been suffering from a drought. 

The Eastern Pacific (meaning mostly off the coast of Mexico), on the other hand, has already had four Category 4 hurricanes in what to date has been an average season. The big difference this year is that there have been several storms threatening Hawaii or near Hawaii. Indeed, Tropical Storm Kilo is currently sweeping up to the south of Hawaii with 35-knot winds, appearing unlikely to be much of a threat.