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Source: Reuters -
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Tropical Storm Fred strengthened into a hurricane over the
eastern Atlantic on Wednesday but was forecast to steer clear of
any land, the US National Hurricane Center said.
Fred had top winds of 120 km per hour and was located
west-southwest of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands off the west
coast of Africa.
The second hurricane of the 2009 Atlantic season, Fred is a
Category 1 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson intensity
scale.
It was expected to turn northwest and then north, keeping thousands
of km east of the US East Coast.
The five-day forecast track issued by the National Hurricane Center
would keep it in the eastern Atlantic, far from from the Gulf of
Mexico, where US oil and gas operations are clustered.
Energy traders keep a close eye on storms that could enter the Gulf
and disrupt offshore production or refinery operations along the
coast.
By 11 p.m. EDT (3pm Wednesday NZT), the storm was located about 715
km west-southwest of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands and was
moving to the west-northwest at about 19 kph, forecasters
said.
"Additional strengthening is forecast during the next day or so,
followed by a slow weakening beginning on Thursday," the hurricane
center said.
Hurricanes draw energy from warm water, so cooler sea surface
temperatures can weaken them, while wind shear - a difference in
wind speeds at different altitudes - can inhibit their growth or
tear them apart.
Commodities traders also watch for storms that could damage citrus,
cotton and other crops in southern US states.
Pricing of insurance-linked securities, which transfer insurance
risks associated with natural disasters to capital market investors
and can be used to hedge other weather risk exposures, can also be
affected by the path of a storm.
With the peak of the hurricane season two days away, the
Atlantic-Caribbean basin has seen five tropical storms and one
other hurricane with little damage.
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