MIDWAY, Fla. (WTXL) -- Drier air on the northern side of Tropical Storm Danny impacted its strengthening efforts Wednesday.
Late Wednesday night, Danny's ragged structure was moving west-northwestward over the southern latitudes of the tropical North Atlantic. Its highest winds are estimated at 50 mph, unchanged from earlier in the day. The center of Danny is just shy of 1,300 miles from the Windward Islands.
Dry air was entrained into the tropical storm's circulation, halting previous intensification processes and causing less organization in the overall cloud and circulation structure. These factors are considered in the weaker strength forecast for Danny. It is still expected to reach hurricane status by the end of the week as it tracks generally to the west or west-northwest.
If Danny's winds reach at least 74 mph, it would become the season's first hurricane.
Conditions in the Caribbean Sea over the extended forecast will still feature faster upper-level winds, which would trigger an overall weakening trend. Also, if the storm's center tracks over the higher elevations of some of the Greater Antilles islands, strength would be further disrupted.
