NASA sees Danny become the 2015 Atlantic season's first hurricane

NASA's Terra satellite passed over the Atlantic Ocean as Tropical Storm Danny intensified into the season's first hurricane.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS, instrument that flies aboard NASA's Terra satellite flew over Danny at 10:15 a.m. EDT (14:15 UTC) on Aug. 20, just as it was classified as the 2015 Atlantic Ocean Season's first hurricane. The MODIS image showed that Danny is a small tropical cyclone.

Hurricane-force winds only extend outward up to 10 miles (20 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 60 miles (95 km).

At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC), the center of the eye of Hurricane Danny was located by satellite near latitude 12.5 North and longitude 44.8 West. That puts the center of Danny about 1,090 miles (1,755 km) east of the Windward Islands. The National Hurricane Center noted that Danny is moving toward the west-northwest near 12 mph (19 kph) and this general motion is expected to continue for the next couple of days. Danny's maximum sustained winds had increased to near 75 mph (120 kph) with higher gusts.

The NHC forecast noted that some additional strengthening is forecast during the next two days.