DATE: Tuesday, September 9, 1997            TAG: 9709090273

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A12  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   34 lines

HURRICANE APPEARS TO BE A THREAT ONLY TO SHIPS

Despite having become the most powerful hurricane this year in the Atlantic, Erika appeared to be of no threat to anyone except ships at sea Monday.

After two days of steady intensification, Erika's top sustained winds hit 125 mph Monday afternoon with gusts approaching 160 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.

``Erika is a strong category three hurricane on the Saffir/Simpson Hurricane Scale,'' said Richard Pasch, a hurricane center meteorologist.

Erika's circulation took on the classic counter-clockwise swirl with a well-formed eye at its center Monday as the storm moved north, away from the Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico.

Pashe said that satellite images showed ``supercell-like'' formations within Erika's northern eyewall, indicating small cyclones or tornadoes forming within the storm. ``Similar to what has been observed in other intense hurricanes.''

At 5 p.m. Monday, Erika was about 620 miles south-southeast of Bermuda, moving north-northeast at about 9 mph.

Forecasts for Erika's future track continued to be favorable Monday, with indications the storm would stay well out to sea and likely not even threaten Bermuda. ``But there is still some uncertainty in the two- to three-day forecast,'' Pashe said, ``so we cannot let them off the hook just yet.''

Meanwhile, the hurricane center is continuing to pay close attention to what may be another developing storm system over the west central Gulf of Mexico. ``This system has the potential to develop into a tropical depression during the next 23 hours,'' Pasche said.

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