Over the past several hours, things have gotten a bit more interesting throughout the tropics. Both the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific are dealing with storms right now. In the Atlantic, there are two storms: Hurricane Danielle and Tropical Storm Earl while only one is churning in the Eastern Pacific, and that is Hurricane Frank.

Danielle, which had been a Category Two Hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale earlier in the week, regained that level of strength late Wednesday night. Meanwhile, Earl maintained its strength as a minimal tropical storm. Frank strengthened slightly to have winds of 80 miles per hour. There is also an area of disturbed weather in the Western Gulf of Mexico while more waves are about to come off the West Coast of Africa.

As of the 11:00 PM EDT Advisory on Wednesday night from the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, Hurricane Danielle had maximum sustained winds of 100 miles per hour while its minimum central pressure fell to 975 millibars or 28.79 inches of Hg. The storm was located 685 miles to the East-Northeast of the Northern Leeward Islands, and moving to the Northwest at 17 miles per hour.

According to the latest forecast discussion from the NHC, the storm has continued to get better organized. Danielle has a ragged eye, and has an eyewall that is mostly closed. The central dense overcast has taken on a more circular shape, and Danielle is projected to become the season’s first major hurricane on Friday before entering cooler waters and an area of increasing wind shear.

Meanwhile, Earl continues to stand pat as a fledgling tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 40 miles per hour, and a minimum central pressure of 1006 millibars, or 29.71 inches of Hg. The storm is moving to the West at 16 miles per hour, and is located some 610 miles to the West of the Southernmost Cape Verde Islands. The overall structure of the circulation has not changed much over the past six plus hours according to the latest discussion from the NHC. However, it is forecast to strengthen to a Category Two Hurricane within five days.

Moving from the Atlantic to the Eastern Pacific, Hurricane Frank is gained some strength this evening. Maximum sustained winds are now at 80 miles per hour while the minimum central pressure has dropped slightly to 984 millibars, or 29.06 inches of Hg according to the 8:00 PM PDT Advisory from the NHC. The hurricane is moving to the West-Northwest at 14 miles per hour, and is located 250 miles to the South-Southwest of Cabo Corrientes, or approximately 425 miles Southeast of the Southern tip of Baja California.

The latest discussion from the NHC on Frank indicates more of an eye feature developing. However, it also indicates that Frank will most likely not strengthen any future with winds peaking at 75 knots, or 85 miles per hour before entering cooler waters and unfavorable upper level conditions. Elsewhere in the tropics, there is a broad area of clouds and showers in the Western Gulf, but it is very organized. The NHC gives this disturbance a 10 percent chance of becoming a tropical cyclone over the next 48 hours. However, another wave is moving off the coast of Africa into the Eastern Atlantic, and although it doesn’t look that organized at the moment, it does have the potential to develop with very warm sea surface temps in the region along with conducive upper level winds.