Danielle, the fourth named storm of the unusually quiet 2022 Hurricane Season, has today (September 2) intensified into the first hurricane of the year some 1,425 kilometres west of The Azores in the Atlantic Ocean.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC), tracking Danielle’s progression from a tropical depression to a hurricane over the last 24 hours, is expecting the system to meander the waters of the open Atlantic during the next couple of days, then slowly turn toward the northeast early next week.

As at 3:00 pm Greenwich Meridian Time (GMT) on Friday, the centre of Hurricane Danielle was located near latitude 37.9 North and longitude 43.3 West.

The hurricane, which has further strengthening in store thanks to favourable environmental conditions, is packing maximum sustained winds of 120 kilometres/hour with higher gusts.

Danielle is currently moving west at a ‘glacial’ pace of two kilometres/hour and is no direct threat to land at this time, according to the NHC.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 30 kilometres from Danielle’s centre, while tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 185 kilometres.