THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, September 4, 1995 TAG: 9509040025
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
The most powerful Atlantic hurricane in three years was steering toward Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands on Sunday with sustained winds of 140 mph.
``Luis could cause extreme damage to the islands it passes over,'' said Gene Rubin, a meteorologist at The Weather Channel in Atlanta. ``It is a very dangerous situation.''
Luis is the first Category 4 hurricane this year on the five-tier Saffir-Simpson scale. If its sustained winds surpass 155 mph, it would become the largest of hurricanes.
At 11 p.m. Sunday, the center of Luis was about 355 miles east of the Leeward Islands, moving west at 14 mph. That motion is expected to continue today.
``If it continues on that path, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico could be right under that eye Tuesday or Wednesday,'' Rubin said.
A hurricane watch was posted late Sunday for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The National Hurricane Center said gusts in squalls were at 160 to 170 mph. Little change in strength is expected today.
A hurricane hunter plane made it into Luis late Sunday and found the storm to be somewhat more powerful than thought.
Hurricane-force winds extend 105 miles from the center; tropical storm-force winds, 200 miles.
Luis may soon be the lone cyclone in the Atlantic, a dramatic change from recent weeks when there have been as many as four storms at a time.
By Sunday morning, there were just two storms.
Tropical Depression Karen vanished from the map as it was swallowed by its big sister, Iris.
Hurricane Iris, still packing sustained winds of 100 mph, was speeding north and is expected to lose its tropical character and weaken.
Everything forecasters know about Luis has come from satellite observations, and those images have been impressive.
As the sun set Sunday, pictures of the storm offered dramatic evidence of how well-formed it is. While much of the storm's circling clouds settled into darkness, the last rays of the sun highlighted the inner, eastern wall of eye.
``It has a very well-defined, very compact eye,'' Rubin said, adding that Luis ``may gain a little bit of strength'' as it moves over the warmer waters of the Caribbean.
Of all hurricanes since 1886 that have been at the same point as Luis was on Sunday, 13 swerved past the Eastern Seaboard; five hit the East Coast; and three crossed into the Gulf of Mexico and went ashore.
Two of those hurricanes - Connie and Gloria - followed courses almost parallel to the path Luis has taken in recent days.
Connie eventually came over the Outer Banks and up the Chesapeake Bay. Gloria grazed the Outer Banks and passed east of Virginia Beach.
And from the tantalizing-but-probably-meaningless fact department, a coincidence: Connie came by in 1955, Gloria in 1985. And now, in 1995, Luis is on the same path. by CNB