|Hurricane Danielle Near Peak Intensity in the Open Atlantic
A tropical wave moved off the coast of Africa on August 21. The wave was quite disorganized, but the convection became more
centralized on August 22, and it became Tropical Depression Four early on August 24 when about 600 miles WSW of the Cape Verde
Islands. The depression strengthened quickly and moved west at a brisk pace that day and became Tropical Storm Danielle, and
it became even stronger and reached hurricane strength early on August 25, when located about 1000 miles east of the Leeward
Islands. Danielle was quick to reach its peak intensity early on August 26 with winds of 105 mph when it was located about
900 miles east of the islands. The strengthening came to a halt later on the 26th when wind shear began to increase and disrupted
the storm’s circulation. The pressure steadily rose from 975 mbar to 994 mbar on August 27, while the winds were
still at 105 mph despite the rising pressure. The wind shear continued to weaken the storm gradually, and the winds did eventually
fall to below Category 2 strength late on the 27th, and Danielle was a minimal hurricane by the time it began to slow down
on August 30, with winds of 75 mph.
The subtropical system that had steered the storm westward through the Atlantic began to ease off, and Danielle slowed
and turned to the north-northeast, and eventually northeast. The storm was able to strengthen during this time, and it reached
105 mph winds once again on August 31, and again on September 1, when it reached a minimum pressure of 965 mbar. Danielle’s
pressure and wind speed never corresponded very well through its whole existance, and when the winds fell to 80 mph on September
2, the pressure surprisingly fell to 960 mbar, (it’s peak intensity) which is very unusual for a storm of such low
wind speed. Later on September 2, the storm turned to the east and began to become extratropical as it entered progressively
cooler waters in the North Atlantic. It became extratropical on September 3, when about 200 miles south of Cape Race, Newfoundland.
The extratropical system continued to last over the North Atlantic, and passed several hundred miles west of the British Isles
on September 6, before finally becoming unrecognizable when it merged with a stonger extratropical low on September 8.