Tropical Storm Strengthens, May Brush Long Island, New England

By Alex Morales

Aug. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Tropical Storm Danny strengthened and may brush Long Island and New England as a hurricane on a path for landfall in Canada at the weekend.

Danny’s maximum sustained winds intensified to 60 miles (95 kilometers) per hour from 50 mph late yesterday, the National Hurricane Center said on its Web site at about 4:45 a.m. Miami time. The system was 370 miles east-northeast of the Bahamian capital, Nassau, and heading northwest at 10 mph.

“Slow strengthening is forecast during the next couple of Days,” the center said. “Interests from the Carolinas northward to New England should monitor the progress of Danny.”

The center’s five-day forecast shows Danny strengthening on a northward track that may see the storm pass near the Carolinas late tomorrow and New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts on Aug. 29, before hitting Canada in the area of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick late that day or early on Aug. 30.

Danny, the fourth named storm of the June 1 to Nov. 30 Atlantic hurricane season, is forecast to become a hurricane, with winds of at least 74 mph, late tomorrow or early Aug. 28.

The eye of the storm, which the hurricane center yesterday described as “disorganized,” formed again today “a little farther to the north,” the forecaster said. The latest position east of the Bahamas is also about 575 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Tropical storm-force winds of at least 39 mph extend up to 205 miles from the eye, and Danny is forecast to turn toward the north and accelerate tomorrow.

Danny would be the second cyclone to hit Canada this season, after Hurricane Bill on Aug. 23 and 24 brushed past Nova Scotia before hitting Newfoundland.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net.