Ophelia less organised but still a strong tropical storm

Tropical Storm Ophelia continues moving west however a turn to the west-northwest is expected on Friday.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Thursday September 22, 2011 -  The National Hurricane Centre (NHC) is reporting that Ophelia is now a less organised system packing high winds.

The 11 a.m. AST NHC report indicated that Tropical Storm Opehlia was located near 13.6 north 47.6 west or about 975 miles east-southeast of the Leeward Islands.

The 11 am AST NHC advisory indicates that maximum sustained winds are near 65 miles per hour with higher gusts and tropical storm force winds extend 230 miles mainly to the north of the system.

The estimated minimum central pressure for the system has dropped to 994 mb.

Tropical Storm Ophelia is the 15th named storm of the 2011 Atlantic Hurricane Season.

The 2011 hurricane season has been forecasted to have a well above average probability of United States and Caribbean major hurricane landfall according to Philip J. Klotzbach and William M. Gray of the Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University. The season is expected to see about 9 hurricanes, 17 named storms and 5 major hurricanes. Track the latest on Ophelia in the Storm Centre.

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