Tropics Update_Tuesday morning notes for Igor, Julia and 92L

• At 5am Tuesday, Hurricane Igor was located 750 miles east of the Leeward Islands, or about 1,900 miles east-southeast from Miami.

• Maximum sustained winds have decreased to 135mph, but Igor is still a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.

• Even though a slight weakening trend is expected to begin on Wednesday as Igor runs into stronger wind shear, Igor is expected to remain a large and dangerous hurricane through the next 5 days.

• Igor is now moving west-northwest near 8mph and this motion will continue through today before making a turn to the northwest on Wednesday. The forecast track will bring the storm over Bermuda on Sunday.

• Igor is not expected to be a threat to the U.S., but could generate large ocean swells and rip currents along the eastern seaboard late this week and this weekend.

• At 5am Tuesday, Tropical Storm Julia became the 5th hurricane of the 2010 season while located in the eastern Atlantic just 330 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands, which is more than 3,350 miles from Miami.

• Maximum winds are now at 75mph, making Julia a Category 1 hurricane. Julia is expected to remain a minimal hurricane for the next few days as the forecast track continues to take Julia northwest into the open Atlantic Ocean.

• There is still a 40% chance that a tropical wave in the northwest Caribbean Sea could become a tropical depression within the next 2 days.
• Computer model track guidance remains in good agreement, taking this system into Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula in 36 hours before moving into the southwestern Gulf of Mexico in 2 days.
If the system does not develop in the Caribbean before moving inland over Mexico, conditions in the southwest Gulf of Mexico may also promote some development of the storm before it moves inland over central Mexico. 

• Hurricane Hunter aircraft is tentatively scheduled to fly into the system this afternoon. Five other upper level reasearch flights are also scheduled for Tuesday at various locations in the Atlantic and Caribbean.

• Additional information can be found at www.nhc.noaa.gov

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