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Hurricane Fred loses steam, drops to a Category 1

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By NEIL JOHNSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 10, 2009

Updated: 09/10/2009 05:05 pm

TAMPA - As forecasters expected, Hurricane Fred continued losing steam today and fell to a Category 1 storm, still far in the Atlantic Ocean.

The season's sixth named storm is about 740 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands and heading northwest at about 7 mph. Winds have dropped from the peak 120 mph of Wednesday to less than 90 mph, and it never hit the 125-mph power forecasters expected.

It was expected to diminish to a tropical storm by Saturday.

The storm should slow to a crawl and meander the next couple days, forecasters said.

Today marks the statistical peak of hurricane season.

Fred, only the third storm to reach Category 3 or higher so far east of North America, should make a turn to the north and slow later today, the National Hurricane Center said. The storm would be moving between an area of high pressure over the Cape Verde Islands and low pressure to the west.

Forecasters expect Fred to weaken over the next couple days as steering winds diminish and the storm more or less drifts before making another shift to the northwest by the start of next week.

The storm is moving over cooler ocean water and running into winds high in the atmosphere that will disrupt it. In addition, Fred is running into some drier air that would hamper any growth.

It should decay to a mass of bad weather and cease to be a tropical system by Tuesday. By the time it begins a westward path, what remains of Fred should be no more than a weak disturbance, the hurricane center said.

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