THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 28, 1996 TAG: 9608280466
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 62 lines
Don't change any weekend plans just yet, but in a few days you may have to contend with an unwanted guest: Edouard. And two cousins are hot on his heels.
The National Hurricane Center said Tuesday that analysis of eight computer models suggests that the season's most powerful storm yet might be positioned 558 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras by Friday - almost exactly halfway between Miami and Bermuda.
The good news in that outlook is that it shows the storm in the midst of making a gradual wide arc that, if completed, would have the hurricane eventually heading northeast and staying offshore.
In the same breath, however, forecasters warn that 72-hour forecasts have a wide margin of error and that hurricanes often end up hundreds of miles away from the predicted location. And with a strong hurricane like Edouard, even a close brush could bring some rough weather.
``With any luck, we're optimistic it's going to turn out to sea,'' said Mike Bono, a meteorologist with The Weather Channel in Atlanta. ``But with a storm coming this close to the coast, we're at least going to see some high surf, some good swells. It will be great for the surfers, but they know how to deal with these conditions.''
For now, said The Weather Channel's senior meteorologist, John Hope, it's too early to know what will happen.
``I wouldn't be alarmed,'' he said. ``I'd go right ahead with any plans I had to go to the beaches or so forth. This is Labor Day weekend. We have a lot of time to watch this.''
On Tuesday, Edouard appeared to have spared the storm-ravaged islands of the northeast Caribbean. But the hurricane, with top sustained winds of 130 mph and gusts above 150 mph, might soon strengthen again.
The storm's satellite images had looked a little less impressive Tuesday, thanks to a trough of low pressure ahead of Edouard. The interaction of the two systems was shearing off some of the hurricane's cloud tops. By 5 p.m., however, the trough was disappearing.
``The well-defined eye is coming back again,'' Hope said. ``This could mean it's ready, maybe, to increase in strength a little bit again.''
Even without any added winds, Edouard remains a dangerous storm, the Hurricane Center said.
At 5 p.m., Edouard was 265 miles north-northeast of the Leeward Islands, moving west-northwest at 15 mph. That motion was expected to continue through today.
The Hurricane Center also said two tropical depressions behind Edouard are showing signs of developing and may soon become named tropical storms. Both had top winds of 35 mph Tuesday afternoon and need only to reach 39 mph to be reclassified as tropical storms. If they do, they will be named Fran and Gustav.
Tropical Depression 6 was about 900 miles east of the Lesser Antilles, moving west at 14 mph.
Tropical Depression 7 was about 630 miles southwest of the Cape Verde Islands, moving west at 14 mph.
``We could have as many as three tropical storms and hurricanes out there at the same time,'' Hope said. ILLUSTRATION: TRACKER'S GUIDE
STEVE STONE
The Virginian-Pilot
[For a copy of the chart, see microfilm for this date.] by CNB