Thursday, August 10, 2000

Alberto back as 'cane; new depression forms
Hurricane Alberto regains strength; depression forms off Florida

HERALD WIRE REPORTS



Alberto, the first storm of the season, returned to hurricane strength deep in the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday, but forecasters predicted it would stay far from land.

Forecasters also were tracking a small system east of Florida that they said could develop into a tropical storm.

Alberto intensified back to minimal hurricane strength during the day as it sped up on a northwesterly course. It is expected to swing northward later in the week and pass well east of Bermuda, National Hurricane Center forecasters said.

With 75 mph winds, Alberto was just over the 74 mph threshold when a tropical storm becomes a hurricane. Alberto also was better organized and moving faster, but a weather system developing over the Northeast was expected to encourage the turn at sea.

Alberto had 85 mph winds Monday and could strengthen to 100 mph over the next three days, forecasters said.

At 11 p.m. EDT, Alberto's center was near 25.7 north latitude and 53.5 west longitude, or about 815 miles southeast of Bermuda. It was moving northwest at about 22 mph.

Meanwhile, forecasters were puzzled by a small tropical depression about 155 miles off Melbourne on central Florida's coast.

One computer model predicted a hurricane would form, but the center's three-day forecast keeps the system nameless, meaning steady winds below 39 mph.

''It's very small and right now we don't think it's getting any better organized. It has very little thunderstorm activity,'' said James Franklin, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

Franklin said the depression was approaching the Florida coast at about 5 mph, and might turn away and never make landfall.

At 11 p.m. EDT, the depression was centered near 28.2 north latitude and 78.8 west longitude, or about 110 miles east of Cape Canaveral. The system was moving west at 6 mph, with steady winds near 35 mph.

The small system was not expected to get any stronger over the next two days, according to the hurricane center's latest advisory. However, if the system were to see its top sustained winds reach 39 mph, it would become Tropical Storm Beryl.




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