Hurricane Fred No Land Threat

HAVANA TIMES, Sept. 9 – The Cuban Meteorological Institute issued its fifth tropical cyclone advisory on Hurricane Fred at 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday.   The storm, now a Category Two hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale with five as the maximum, packs winds of 105 mph but appears to pose no threat to land.

The Cuban weather forecasters note that Fred, located 645 miles west-southwest from Africa’s Cape Verde Islands now has a minimum central pressure of 970 millibars.

Models show the storm gaining in intensity and taking a turn to the northwest in the coming 12-24 hours and slowing down from its current 13 mph speed.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami predicts that Fred’s winds will reach 110 mph later on Wednesday and that the five-day projection of its path “will keep it over the open ocean until it loses steam.”