Danielle Drags Across Atlantic

Weakened Hurricane Danielle crawled across the Atlantic on Sunday, following a path that forecasters said would take it away from land.

Danielle's top sustained wind blew at 75 mph -- the minimum for a hurricane is 74 mph -- and it was moving toward the northwest at only about 9 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.

It was expected to keep turning toward the north and come no closer than 500 miles from the coast of Florida, said center meteorologist Bill Frederick.

"It looks like it's going to go on up and go on out," Frederick said.

Although not expected to threaten the Bahamas or the mainland United States, high waves were likely to batter the southern Atlantic Coast, forecasters said.

"You could have some rip currents and large waves probably anywhere from 4 to 8 feet," center research scientist James Free said.

At 5 p.m. EDT Sunday, Danielle was centered near 27.9 north latitude and 74.2 west longitude, about 195 miles east-northeast of the Great Abaco island in the northern Bahamas.

Although following a course similar to the one taken by Hurricane Bonnie, Danielle was farther out to sea, forecasters said.

In addition, Frederick said, "it got over cooler water that was churned out from Bonnie so it did not intensify as much."

Bonnie, which grew up to 400 miles wide, came ashore Wednesday with 115 mph wind, dumping as much as 20 inches of rain before heading off to the northern Atlantic.

Danielle is the fourth tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1 and ends Nov. 30.

"We still have several months left," Frederick said. "There's still a lot left in the season. Be prepared and watch."

The Gulf of Mexico should be closely watched because most of the storms that form there come alive in October, said Gerry Bell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center.

Also, Bell said he expects the last half of the season to produce more storms than normal because of favorable Atlantic conditions with high-level wind blowing from the east and warm water temperatures.