Tropical storm Danny has emergency management officials in Massachusetts watching the projected path of the storm, which could brush Cape Cod late Saturday or early Sunday with rains and high winds. (See a Cape Cod map.)
Forecasters thought Danny would strengthen and perhaps make landfall on Cape Cod as a Category 1 hurricane with winds of at least 75 miles (120 kilometers) an hour.
But Danny hasn't intensified today as expected, said Jeff Masters, director of meteorology for the Web site Weather Underground.
"It only has about 24 hours to strengthen," Masters said. "I doubt we'll see a hurricane out of this. I think it will be a strong tropical storm by the time it gets up north there."
Danny Unlikely to Affect Kennedy
As of 11 a.m. ET today, tropical storm Danny was about 550 miles (885 kilometers) southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Its strongest winds were blowing at about 60 miles (96.5 kilometers) an hour.
Predicting the storm's path has been difficult, noted Daniel Brown, senior hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida.
That's largely because Danny is a weak, poorly organized storm that is more easily pushed around by other weather systems.
If the storm stays on course, the worst effect Massachusetts is likely to see from Danny is flooding from heavy rainfall, Weather Underground's Masters said.
Danny isn't expected to affect the funeral for the late U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy, which is scheduled for Saturday morning in Boston, just north of the Cape.
Based on its current path, the storm won't reach the Boston area until well after the service has ended, Masters said.
No Evacuations Planned
In Cape Cod, where a weakened Danny might still make landfall, officials aren't expecting to order a mass evacuation ahead of the storm.
"Generally speaking, the folks leaving the Cape would be non-residents," said Peter Judge, public information officer for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.
Local officials on the Cape will make their own decisions about storm preparations tomorrow.
In addition to making sure emergency shelters are staffed and supplied, officials for the Cape Cod town of Falmouth probably will close public beaches to swimmers, said the town's emergency management director Shardell Newton.
In general, though, Cape Cod is "no stranger" to tropical storms, Weather Underground's Masters added.
In 1991, when Hurricane Bob made landfall in neighboring Rhode Island as a Category 2 storm, it pushed a 15-foot (4.5-meter) storm surge into Buzzards Bay on the Cape's southern shore.
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