Canadian Hurricane Centre issues first bulletin on Tropical Storm Franklin

Tropical Storm Franklin on high-resolution satellite imagery courtesy of NASA. Much of the cloud cover of the storm has blown east of the centre by westerly winds.

The first official bulletin on Tropical Storm Franklin was released by the Canadian Hurricane Centre at noon on Friday.

Franklin is expected to become a strong Category 2 hurricane as it tracks west of Bermuda early next week. The agency notes that we are now within five days of Franklin entering Canadian offshore waters. The bulletin continues to say that “the most likely track as of now is for Franklin to pass well south of Nova Scotia and close to southeastern Newfoundland with the windiest part of the storm staying offshore.”

Southern portions of the Atlantic Canadian marine districts will have a greater chance of strong winds and high seas from the storm.

Official forecast track and cone for Franklin as it moves north of Bermuda and approaches the southern marine districts of Atlantic Canada Wednesday of next week.

The bulletin advises that there could certainly still be change in the track of the storm, so it is important for the public to monitor for updates through the weekend. The latest from the Canadian Hurricane Centre can be found online.

The centre of Franklin is about 350 km to the north of the Dominican Republic and has maximum sustained winds near 85 km/h. The northward movement of the storm has currently stalled, but is expected to resume in the next 24 hours. Franklin has encountered some westerly winds that have blown its cloud cover to the east of the centre of the storm. Despite that, it is still forecast to gain hurricane strength over the coming days as it moves over favourably warm ocean waters.

Franklin as it sits to the north of the Dominican Republic as of Friday afternoon.