Fred strengthened into a hurricane Tuesday night — the second of the Atlantic season, the National Hurricane Center reported.
“Fred is now a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale,” the center said. “Additional strengthening is forecast during the day or so, followed by slow weakening beginning on Thursday.” In the Pacific, Tropical Storm Linda also gained strength as it churned through open waters. Neither storm was expected to make landfall before dissipating. At 11 p.m. ET, Fred was packing winds of 75 mph and was about 445 miles (715 km) west-southwest of the southernmost islands in the Cape Verde chain. Fred was moving toward the west-northwest near 12 mph (19 km/hr) and was expected to turn toward the northwest over the next few days. A National Hurricane Center forecast map shows Fred becoming a tropical depression on Sunday.
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Storms churn in Atlantic and Pacific
At 8 p.m. PT (11 p.m. ET), Linda was located about 1,305 miles (2,100 km) west-southwest of the southern tip of Baja California and was more than 1,700 miles (2,800 km) east of Hawaii. The storm had maximum sustained winds near 65 mph (100 km/hr) and was meandering to the north-northwest at about 2 mph (4 km/hr). “Some additional strengthening is possible tonight and Wednesday,” the hurricane center said. Linda is forecast to weaken on Thursday.
