Good morning everyone.

The last time I wrote to you here on the blog, Hurricane Helene was just shy of becoming the strongest hurricane of the 2006 Atlantic Hurricane season. Winds were at 120 mph and pressure had dropped to 28.29 inches of Hg. Well, shortly after that, some forty-eight hours ago, Helene became the strongest storm of 2006 with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph, and a minimum central pressure of 28.17 inches of Hg. Since that time, Helene has weakened a bit. Weakening to just below major hurricane status with 110 mph winds within the past 24 hours, Helene is still a Category Two Hurricane, but weakened slightly more with winds decreasing to 105 mph as of the 11 AM EDT Advisory on Wednesday morning.

The good news is that Helene will not be paying a visit to the United States, or Bermuda for that matter. The storm, which is currently located some 670 miles Southeast of Bermuda, is moving to the Northwest at 12 mph. The storm is anticipated to turn gradually to the north over the next day or so. Meanwhile, out in the Eastern Mid-Atlantic, we are still dealing with Gordon. The once major hurricane, picked up steam over the past several days, and strengthened to have winds of 105 mph just as it was passing to the south of the Azores. Now east of that island chain, Gordon is now a tropical storm with winds of only 60 mph, and a barometric pressure of 995 mb, or 29.38 inches of Hg. The storm system is moving rapidly to the East at 33 mph after moving as fast as 35 mph. A gradual turn to the East-Northeast is expected with time.

Gordon is also expected to become extratropical, but could pose some problems for Western Europe, especially France, Portugal, and Spain. Helene has become a vast storm with hurricane force winds extending some 60 miles from the eye while tropical storm force winds extend some 230 miles. When the storm system was at peak intensity in the mid-morning hours on Monday, the hurricane force winds only extended some 50 miles while tropical storm force winds reached out some 200 miles. The storm grew bigger as a result of its decrease in strength and wind speed. Hurricanes grown in size as they decrease in intensity in order to satisfy the conservation of angular momentum.

While Helene is a large storm system, it is nowhere near as large as Florence was. As Florence pulled away from Bermuda out to sea, its hurricane force winds extended some 70 miles while its tropical storm force winds had a reach of 415 miles from the center. Meanwhile, Gordon was a much smaller storm. At peak strength, Gordon had a radius of hurricane winds that was 30 miles while the radius of tropical storm force winds extended some 140 miles. As it approached the Azores and reintensified to a strong Category Two Hurricane with winds of 105 mph, Gordon’s hurricane force winds extended some 40 miles and its tropical storm force winds reached out some 115 miles. Prior to being downgraded on Wednesday morning, Gordon had expanded in size with hurricane force winds some 45 miles from its center, and tropical storm force winds some 230 miles from its center.

Elsewhere, in the Atlantic, we are still watching a non-tropical low pressure system as it approaches the Canadian Maritimes. Approaching Eastern Nova Scotia, the storm system is moving briskly to the Northeast at 25 to 30 mph. It has weakened some over the past day or so, and development is not expected at this time. Meanwhile, in the far Eastern Atlantic, the tropical wave that rolled off the West African coast on Monday, continues to progress westward at 10 to 15 mph. Positioned some several hundred miles to the Southwest of the Southernmost Cape Verde Islands, this wave accompanied by a broad area of low pressure, has the potential to develop over the next couple days.