The Nation - News from Aug. 21, 1989

The season’s fifth tropical storm may be born by this morning, a hurricane specialist said, as a tropical depression moving west-northwest through the open Atlantic gained strength through the night. “The environment is not ideal, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see it become a tropical storm,” said Hal Gerrish, a specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. The center of the depression was located about 1,400 miles southwest of the Azores, the center said. The depression was moving near 20 m.p.h. with maximum sustained winds near 35 m.p.h.--just 4 m.p.h. shy of tropical storm strength. If the depression reaches tropical storm strength, it would be named Erin.