Tropical Storm Helene Forms

Tropical Storm Helene formed in the eastern Atlantic today, and is expected to strengthen as it moves west, the National Hurricane Center reported. Helene is the eighth named storm of the 1988 Atlantic hurricane season, and the first since Hurricane Gilbert formed in the Caribbean and went on to ravage Jamaica and Mexico.

Helene’s winds, based on satellite photos, reached 40 m.p.h. today, just above the level at which a tropical depression becomes a named storm, said forecaster Miles Lawrence. At 11 a.m. PDT, Helene’s center was located 760 miles west southwest of the Cape Verde Islands at latitude 12.8 north, longitude 36.0 west. The storm was moving westward at 12 m.p.h.