Hurricane
Isaac remained deep in the Atlantic Ocean and posed no immediate
threat to land as it held onto its top winds of 115 mph Monday,
forecasters said.
The system
lost some power Sunday, though little change in strength was expected
over the next 24 hours, said forecasters at the National Hurricane
Center in Miami.
At 5 a.m.
EDT, Isaac was about 1,400 miles east of the Leeward Islands,
at the eastern edge of the Caribbean, and moving to the west-northwest
at near 10 mph.
``It's very
far from land and in three days it's still going to be very far
away from the islands,'' said hurricane specialist James Franklin.
``If it continues on its present track, it would pass well north
of the islands.''
Isaac had
strengthened since becoming a named storm Thursday. Its maximum
sustained winds increased from 39 mph to 120 mph, then dropped
back to 115 mph on Sunday.
Satellite
photographs Sunday showed its once well-defined eye had become
slightly less organized, said hurricane specialist Richard Pasch.
Meanwhile,
forecasters were tracking a tropical wave in the far eastern Atlantic,
about 400 miles southwest of the Cape Verde Islands off northwestern
Africa. It became better organized overnight and was expected
to become a tropical depression later Monday, Franklin said.
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