THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 12, 1995 TAG: 9508120044
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
Felix is becoming a monster.
After several days of steady growth, Hurricane Felix suddenly surged in strength in six hours Friday as it moved steadily northwest in the Atlantic. Maximum winds jumped from 85 mph at 5 p.m. to 110 mph with gusts to 130 mph at 11 p.m.
The storm is expected to bypass the Caribbean islands, but there is far less certainty about what Felix might have in store for Bermuda or the U.S. East Coast.
The National Hurricane Center's forecast called for the storm to begin a traditional turn from land, as many Atlantic storms do, as it runs into a persistent line of low pressure along the East Coast. By Monday, if that outlook were to hold, the storm would be passing just east of Bermuda.
Those same forecasts call for Felix to continue to grow, with top sustained of 125 mph and gusts to 155 mph, making it a Category 4 storm on the five-tier Saffir-Simpson scale used to measure hurricanes. That would certainly qualify it as one of the three major hurricanes experts are predicting will develop in the Atlantic this year.
Long-range hurricane forecasting - especially when it comes to direction - is more art than science, however, and most practitioners are the first to warn against putting much stock in them.
For example, various computer models used to forecast where Felix will go as it interacts with other weather systems do not agree. One even shows the storm making a new swing to the west, putting it on a course unfavorable for the mid-Atlantic coast.
Whatever its future course, based on its speed and location Friday night, Felix would not be a coastal threat until early next week.
At 5 p.m. Friday, Felix was about 800 miles south-southeast of Bermuda and was moving northwest near 18 mph. That motion was expected to continue through today.
Maximum sustained winds had increased to 85 mph, and the Hurricane Center said further strengthening is likely today.
Meanwhile, in the Gulf of Mexico, Tropical Storm Gabrielle grew to near-hurricane strength Friday as it finally crept ashore in Mexico after hovering offshore for the better part of two days.
At 7 p.m. Friday, Gabrielle was moving inland about 110 miles north-northwest of Tampico, Mexico. As it came ashore, it had sustained winds of 70 mph - 4 mph short of hurricane force. By Friday evening, however, its winds had decreased to near 45 mph. by CNB