THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 23, 1995 TAG: 9508230440
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
Felix is finis.
Now meet his brother, Humberto, and their thus-far nameless cousins, tropical depressions 10 and 11.
On one of the busiest days ever in the tropical Atlantic, the National Hurricane Center issued advisories Tuesday on four cyclones.
First, there was Felix, which finally made up for its snail-like pace between Bermuda and the mid-Atlantic coast by jetting into the North Atlantic and beginning to lose its tropical characteristics. Even with that, it remained a huge storm with sustained winds of 60 mph and high gusts as squalls. The edge of tropical storm-force winds brushed the southeast end of Newfoundland on Tuesday morning as the storm barreled northeast at 40 mph.
The Hurricane Center issued its 59th detailed advisory on the storm that was Felix at 11 a.m. And none too soon. By 5 p.m. Tuesday, the center was tracking three more systems.
The biggest, so far, started the day as Depression 9, but earned the name Humberto by midday as its winds intensified. By 5 p.m., top sustained winds were at 65 mph - more than enough to make it a tropical storm, but 10 mph short of hurricane strength, which the storm is expected to reach today.
Humberto has plenty of growing room. It was 850 miles east of the Cape Verde Islands at 5 p.m. Tuesday, steering west-northwest at 15 mph. It will be several days before the system threatens land, but those will be days in which it is expected to intensify.
Tropical depression 10 was closer to land, about 640 miles east of the Lesser Antilles and heading northwest near 14 mph. Its maximum winds were at 35 mph with higher gusts, and it could become a tropical storm - and earn a name - today.
The Hurricane Center was advising residents of the islands to keep close tabs on the depression.
The newest storm was tropical depression 11, which formed from a storm system just off the Florida coast, southwest of Andros Island.
The primary effect of the storm, with sustained winds of 30 mph, will probably be rain.
The Hurricane Center warned that it could drop 4 to 8 inches along the coast while moving northwest at 6 mph.
To hear updates on all these storms, call INFOLINE at 640-5555 and enter category 1237. by CNB