THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 3, 1995 TAG: 9509030044
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
The year's second major hurricane - Luis - became even more formidable late Saturday as its top sustained winds hit 140 mph, with gusts to 175 mph.
That makes it the season's first Category 4 hurricane on the five-tier Saffir-Simpson scale - and a very dangerous storm, the National Hurricane Center said.
A hurricane watch may be posted today for parts of the Leeward Islands.
``With the weekend in progress . . . all interests in the eastern Caribbean should closely monitor the progress of this dangerous hurricane,'' the National Hurricane Center in Miami said late Saturday.
The hurricane center said Luis could strengthen still further if it moves, as expected, over the warm waters of the Caribbean.
Luis plodded steadily westward Saturday, showing no signs of taking a sudden turn to the north like its three predecessors.
And with each day the powerful storm continues west, the threat increases that Luis may hit the Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico. And, from there, the whole of the U.S. East and Gulf coasts wait as potential targets.
``This is a dangerous storm,'' said forecaster Lixion Avila of the hurricane center. Nothing is showing up on the weather maps to impede the storm's westward advance.
Luis has followed a track almost parallel to, but slightly north of, the 1992 course of Andrew, which devastated south Florida. At 11 p.m., Luis was 665 miles east of the Lesser Antilles, heading west at 13 mph.
Meanwhile, two other storms appeared to be moving toward oblivion.
At 11 p.m., Hurricane Iris, still packing 100 mph winds with higher gusts, was about 350 miles east of Bermuda and steering north-northeast near 23 mph.
The storm is expected to pass a couple hundred miles east of Bermuda today, far enough away to spare the island, although a tropical storm watch remained in effect.
Tropical Storm Karen lost more of its punch Saturday as it circled just north of cousin Iris. Its winds dropped to 35 mph, and it was reclassified as a tropical depression.
Much of Karen's circulation has been absorbed by the larger and stronger Iris, and forecasters said the rest of the storm probably would be swallowed up by today.
The storm was about 180 miles east of Bermuda, but it was not expected to bring more than some hefty gusts and thunderstorms to the island today. by CNB