Mid-Atlantic Storm Nears Hurricane Strength
Date: 25-Nov-05
Country: USA
The storm had maximum sustained winds of 70 mph (110 kph) and at 10 a.m. EST/1500 GMT was located 1,145 miles (1,845 km) southwest of Portugal's Azores, according to the US National Hurricane Center in Miami.
Delta was moving eastward at 2 mph (4 kph) and was centered near latitude 24.8 north and longitude 38.8 west. A large storm, Delta's tropical storm-force winds extended outward as far as 260 miles (415 km).
"Some slight strengthening is forecast during the next 24 hours and could become a hurricane later today or tonight," the forecasters said in an advisory
Hurricanes, including deadly Katrina, Stan and others that have made 2005 the most active Atlantic hurricane season on record, have sustained winds of at least 74 mph (119 kph).
Moving erratically, Delta was declared a tropical storm on Wednesday and was named for a letter from the Greek alphabet. It's three predecessors, Alpha, Beta and Gamma, were also named with Greek letters because 2005's official list of storm names had been exhausted.
Of this year's 25 named storms, the greatest number since records began 150 years ago, 13 became hurricanes. The previous record was in 1933, when 21 storms were named. The last day of the six-month, 2005 Atlantic hurricane season is Wednesday.
