THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 26, 1996 TAG: 9609260293
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 34 lines
The calm is over.
The season's ninth tropical storm was christened Isidore on Wednesday, bringing to an end a period of quiet in the tropics at what is statistically the busiest part of the Atlantic hurricane season.
And as if to make up for lost time, Isidore - located in the far eastern Atlantic - gained strength rapidly. At 5 p.m. Tuesday, its top sustained winds were at 35 mph. In 24 hours, they had jumped to 65 mph with gusts to 80.
Isidore would become a hurricane if its sustained winds surpass 74 mph. And the National Hurricane Center said that is likely, given the warmth of the waters the storm is moving over.
At 5 p.m., Isidore was about 600 miles west-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands, moving west-northwest near 16 mph. That motion was expected to continue overnight.
The storm is expected to run into a low-pressure system and accompanying trough in the next few days, and that may serve to turn the storm north long before it would pose a threat to the Southeast.
The 1996 hurricane season began June 1 and continues through Nov. 30. Based on the past century, the traditional peak of the season comes on Sept. 10, with the period from mid-August through late September producing the most storms. ILLUSTRATION: TRACKER'S GUIDE
STEVE STONE
The Virginian-Pilot
[For a copy of the chart, see microfilm for this date.] by CNB