THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 27, 1996 TAG: 9610270317
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 35 lines
Lili's heading for London.
Having slipped out of view of the satellites that usually track hurricanes in the Atlantic, the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, Tropical Storm Lili forged northeastward Saturday, apparently on track to hit Great Britain.
It finally appears, however, that the storm is losing strength and its tropical characteristics - almost a week after forecasters first predicted its downturn.
At 5 p.m. Saturday, Lili was about 250 miles north of Flores Island in the Azores. It was moving northeast near 31 mph, and that motion was expected to continue through today.
``It's going to be in England by Sunday,'' said Rich Johnson, a meteorologist with The Weather Channel in Atlanta. ``Not as a tropical system, but as a strong low pressure center.''
Maximum sustained winds were estimated at 70 mph, dropping the storm just below hurricane strength.
Even with Lili's departure, the tropics are not yet quiet. With five weeks to go in the hurricane season, which ends Nov. 30, there are two tropical waves moving through the Caribbean.
One was producing cloudiness, thunderstorms and gusty winds over the Lesser Antilles on Saturday. It is not expected to develop into a tropical depression within the next few days, however.
Satellite images showed another wave a few hundred miles east of the Lesser Antilles. ``Although conditions appear marginal for development,'' the National Hurricane Center said, ``cloud motion suggests a surface circulation may be forming.'' An Air Force reconnaissance plane is scheduled to investigate the area today. by CNB