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More Record Heat for Chicago, Midwest Next Week

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Sept. 7, 2013

These Minnesota fair-goers enjoyed a cooling mist on a blisteringly hot day. (AP)

As an intense wheel of heat spins across the central and southern Plains, a cold front slowly dropping down from Canada will push the highest temperatures into the Midwest early next week.

After a very warm day on Saturday, Chicago will cool down into the 70s for Sunday, but the respite from summerlike warmth will be short-lived.

Extreme temperatures on Saturday into Sunday from Goodland, Kan., into McCook, Neb., will make a surge into the Midwest on Monday into Tuesday.

On Monday, highs will hit the lower to middle 90s from Omaha, Neb., into Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Saint Louis, Mo.

On Tuesday, the heat makes its way into Chicago, with high temperatures nearing the record of 95 degrees, set on Sept. 10, 1983.

Interestingly, one has to go back to Sept. 26, 1998 to find the last time a record high was observed in Chicago for the month of September.

The extreme heat will also have some impact on Sunday's NFL games, namely in Saint Louis where the Rams play the Arizona Cardinals.

This game will start around 4:25 p.m. as high temperatures peak around 90 degrees with stifling humidity.

If you will be heading to this game, or have any other outdoor plans this weekend into the start of next week, here are a few helpful ideas for staying safe in the heat from Chicago's Northwestern Memorial Hospital:

- Stay Hydrated. The most important tip is to remember to drink plenty of water. Sports drinks can also restore body fluids, electrolytes, and salt balance.

- Avoid Midday Rays. Stay indoors if possible during peak temperatures, which are typically between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.

- Dress Appropriately. Wear loose clothing that allows your body to breath, such as cotton and protect your head and face from the sun by wearing a hat with a brim.

- Limit Intense Activity. Refrain from intensive outdoor activity in high humidity, which can hinder sweat from evaporating quickly and prevent the body from releasing heat effectively.

A strong cold front will cut its way through the sweltering heat on Wednesday, triggering showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Much cooler and more refreshing air will arrive late next week into the weekend.

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More Chill, Frost Concerns Headed to the Northeast

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Sept. 7, 2013

A quick dip into unseasonably cool temps could cause leaves to change early in the Northeast. (AP)

More Autumnlike chill is headed back to the Northeast, but there is good news for those who want summer warmth to hang on.

Following the passage of a cool front, a significant drop in temperatures will occur from Saturday to Sunday from the Great Lakes to northern New England.

The I-95 corridor from Baltimore to Philadelphia to New York City to Boston will notice cooler and less humid conditions by Monday.

Prior to the cooler air's arrival, showers and thunderstorms will continue to rumble along and ahead of the approaching front this weekend.

Showers and thunderstorms will remain most numerous with occasional downpours from Michigan to the eastern Great Lakes and northern New England through Saturday night.

The activity will become spottier as it reaches the rest of the Northeast late Saturday night into Sunday, limiting the disruptions to outdoor plans.

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The core of the chill will settle across northern New England and northern and western New York, where Sunday's highs will be held roughly 10 degrees below normal. Brisk winds ushering in the cooler air will add to the chill.

As the winds calm and skies clear, a near repeat of Thursday night's chilly temperatures and frost concerns will unfold on Sunday night across the Northeast.

The frost should once again be primarily confined to the typically colder spots of the interior from northern Pennsylvania to New Hampshire, forcing residents to once again cover or move tender plants and vegetables inside.

Clouds spilling down from central Quebec should spare northern Maine from frost concerns. The air will be too "warm" for frost near the I-95 corridor and from central Pennsylvania southward, but many will likely want to wear jackets to work or school on Monday morning.

"The lengthening nights with clear skies can also create the perfect conditions for late-night and early morning fog, especially in the river valleys, where and when winds diminish," stated AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.

As quick as the cool air filters into the Northeast, a surge of warmth and humidity will return for Tuesday and Wednesday. Temperatures on Wednesday are expected to reach or approach 90 degrees northward to Philadelphia.

The sticky conditions will persist through Thursday before another blast of cool air arrives late in the week. The clash of these two distinct air masses threatens to spark potentially damaging thunderstorms on Thursday afternoon.

The threat for such thunderstorms currently appears greatest from southeastern New York to Virginia, encompassing New York City and Washington, D.C.

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Dive Signals More Treasure at Pirate-Ship Wreck

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Sept. 7, 2013

Previously recovered pirates' treasure coins from the ship Whydah are shown at Chicago's Field Museum. (Alex Garcia/Chicago Tribune/MCT via Getty Images)

BOSTON (AP) - A recent dive at the site of the only authenticated pirate ship wreck in U.S. waters has signaled the possible location of even greater treasures.

Already 200,000 artifacts, from gold to guns, have been documented from the site of the Whydah, which sank during a ferocious storm off Cape Cod in 1717.

Undersea explorer Barry Clifford located the wreck site in 1984. But he only recently learned that 400,000 coins were stolen from two boats the Whydah raided in the weeks before it sank.

The final dive Sept. 1 at the end of a three-day trip found an area heavy with metal, including what appears to be coins, some stacked.

Now, Clifford plans to return to the site as soon as weather permits.

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Another Atlantic Tropical System Trying to Brew

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Sept. 7, 2013

A satellite shot of the newest storm in the eastern Atlantic, off the coast of Africa. (NOAA)

Following short-lived Tropical Depression 8, another tropical system is showing signs of brewing in the far eastern Atlantic.

Odds favor a vigorous tropical wave emerging off the African coast becoming the next tropical depression or storm in the Atlantic Basin.

What makes this wave different from its predecessors that hinted at development but failed to do so is the atmosphere the wave is moving into.

The wave is tracking south of the disruptive wind shear and dry air that has kept this hurricane season relatively quiet thus far.

Without those hindrances in place, the AccuWeather.com Hurricane Center expects the wave to gradually strengthen over the next couple of days.

The next tropical storm in the Atlantic Basin will acquire the name Humberto.

How strong the system gets will depend on how long it maintains a westward heading. Eventually, it will make a sharper turn to the north and could encounter the drier air, stronger wind shear and even cooler water.

The longer the system delays that turn to the north, the more opportunity it has to strengthen. If it manages to become a hurricane before Thursday, it would prevent 2013 from setting the record for the formation of the latest first Atlantic hurricane.

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That record, for storms in the satellite era, is currently held by 2002 when Gustav reached hurricane status on September 11, according to AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.

The system is expected to definitely make that northward turn prior to reaching the central Atlantic, sparing the Caribbean islands from being impacted.

Farther down the road, it appears that the system should not reach the United States.

The worst impacts to land will come over the Cape Verde Islands. Potentially flooding rain threatens to spread across the islands Monday through Tuesday. Depending on when the systems takes its northward turn, the drenching could last through Wednesday.

Damaging winds and rough surf will become greater concerns if the system is a developing or strengthen tropical storm as it crosses or passes very close to the islands.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic

A close eye is also being kept on the area of disturbed weather north of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola that contains part of what was once-Tropical Storm Gabrielle.

The window can open for this area to gradually become better organized if the disruptive wind shear in its path to the north lessens.

Even if development occurs, the cold front set to bring another shot of cool air to the Northeast late next week will keep the system away from the United States.

Interests in Bermuda, however, should monitor the feature. Some drenching showers and thunderstorms could still reach the island nation at midweek regardless of whether or not a tropical depression takes shape.

The AccuWeather.com Hurricane Center will also be watching the southwestern Gulf of Mexico for another system to follow in the footsteps of once-Tropical Depression Eight and Tropical Storm Fernand.

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Federal Teams Headed to Rim Fire to Assess Damage

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Sept. 7, 2013

In this photo provided by the U.S. Forest Service, crews clear California Highway 120 of debris, as crews continue to fight the Rim Fire near Yosemite National Park in California. (AP Photo/U.S. Forest Service, Mike McMillan)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Even as firefighters battle a gigantic wildfire in and around Yosemite National Park, environmental scientists are moving in this weekend to begin critical work protecting habitat and waterways before the fall rainy season beings.

Members of the federal Burned Area Emergency Response team will begin hiking the rugged Sierra Nevada terrain before embers cool as they race to identify areas at the highest risk for erosion into streams, the Tuolumne River and the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, San Francisco's famously pure water supply.

Now the third largest fire in California history, the inferno that started Aug. 17 when a hunter's illegal fire swept out of control has burned 385 square miles of timber, meadows and sensitive wildlife habitat. It has cost $81 million to fight, and officials say it will cost tens of millions of dollars to repair the environmental damage alone.

About 5 square miles of the burned area is in the watershed of the municipal reservoir serving 2.8 million people - the only one in a national park.

"That's 5 square miles of watershed with very steep slopes," said Alex Janicki, the Stanislaus National Forest BAER response coordinator. "We are going to need some engineering to protect them."

So far the water remains clear despite falling ash, and the city water utility has a six month supply in reservoirs closer to the Bay Area.

The burned area represents 1 percent of the Hetch Hetchy watershed, said Tyrone Jue, spokesman for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. He said that because the sheer walls around the reservoir are granite with little vegetation, he believes that little stabilization work will need to be done.

However initial satellite imagery and recent visits to the burned area show that the Tuolumne Canyon above the reservoir "burned pretty hot," Janicki said.

Jue said the utility will await word from the BAER team, which will be made up of hydrologists, botanists, archeologists, biologists, geologists and soil scientists from the U.S. Forest Service, Yosemite National Park, the Natural Resource Conservation and the U.S. Geological Survey.

The team also will look at potential for erosion and mudslides across the burn area, assess what's in the path and determine what most needs protecting.

"We're looking to evaluate what the potential is for flooding across the burned area," said Alan Gallegos, a team member and geologist with the Sierra National Forest. "We evaluate the potential for hazard and look at what's at risk -- life, property, cultural resources, species habitat. Then we come up with a list of treatments."

In key areas with a high potential for erosion ecologists can dig ditches to divert water, plant native trees and grasses, and spray costly hydro-mulch across steep canyon walls in the most critical places.

Federal officials have amassed a team of 50 scientists, more than twice what is usually deployed to assess wildfire damage. Janicki hopes that with so many people performing assessment they will have a preliminary report ready in two weeks so that remediation can start before the first storms.

Burning chaparral damages soil by releasing volatile oils that saturate soil and make it water repellant. When soils become repellant they don't soak up rain and are washed away in the runoff. Debris flows after fires can be as thick as concrete, taking out everything in their paths.

"It looks like a real mosaic right now," Janicki said. "There's going to be a lot of ground that has high burn severity, and other areas that don't."

Within the burned area are 400 miles of unpaved roads with countless culvert crossings, and engineers will be using water flow data that scientists collect to determine how to protect them from potential debris that could clog them and cause roads to wash out.

Fire officials still have not released the name of the hunter responsible for starting the blaze. On Friday Kent Delbon, the lead investigator, would not characterize what kind of fire the hunter had set or how they had identified the suspect.

"I can say some really good detective work out there made this thing happen," he told the Associated Press.

Delbon said the Forest Service announced the cause of the fire before being able to release details in order to end rumors started by a local fire chief that the blaze ignited in an illegal marijuana garden.

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3 Rescued After Helicopter Ices on Alaska Volcano

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Sept. 8, 2013

This file photo shows Alaska's Mount Mageik on a clear day. (Getty)

Two researchers and their pilot were rescued Friday from a remote Alaska volcano after freezing rain left thick ice on their helicopter's blades.

Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters said the rescue came at about 5 p.m. Friday. The three were caught in a freezing rainstorm Wednesday evening.

Pilot Sam Egli, United States Geological Survey geophysicist John Paskievitch, and University of Alaska-Fairbanks researcher Taryn Lopez were not injured.

They were attempting to monitor volcano equipment when "the weather moved in," Egli said. The work is part of an assignment to also repair permanent monitoring equipment on volcanoes in the area known as the Valley of 10,000 Smokes.

Freezing fog enveloped the research area and iced over the helicopter's rotator blades.

"We were unable to produce enough lift to take off at that point," Egli said. "The weather didn't clear up after that."

Without any means to heat the helicopter blades, the trio was stuck.

On Friday afternoon, a rescue helicopter lifted Egli and the researchers to safety. Peters said the helicopter remains on Mount Mageik about 280 miles southwest of Anchorage at Katmai National Park and Preserve.

Asked how they passed the time for more than two days, Egli said "we just yakked."

"There wasn't anything to do," he said. "We work together, we've got things in common, so we just talked about that."

The three were well-equipped with survival gear and food. They remained in the helicopter until they were rescued.

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NASA Fixes LADEE Moon-Probe Glitch

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Sept. 8, 2013

This stunning image of NASA's LADEE moon probe launch was shot on the beach in Cape May Point, N.J., on Sept. 6, 2013. LADEE launched from Wallops Island, Va., and was visible across a wide swath of the U.S. East Coast. (Chris Bakley)

Engineers have fixed a technical glitch on NASA's newest robotic moon explorer, bringing the spacecraft back up to full health one day after a spectacular nighttime launch Friday that wowed spectators up and down the U.S. East Coast.

NASA's LADEE moon probe launch into space Friday night (Sept. 6) in a flawless liftoff from the agency's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. An Orbital Sciences Corp. Minotaur V rocket, making its debut flight, launched the lunar probe.

But just hours after the 11:27 p.m. EDT liftoff, NASA officials reported that the spacecraft's reaction wheels -- which spin to position and stabilize LADEE in space without using precious thruster fuel -- unexpectedly shut down. [See spectacular LADEE night launch photos by SPACE.com readers]

By Saturday afternoon, the glitch had been traced to safety limits programmed into LADEE before launch to protect the reaction wheel system, NASA officials said. Those fault protection limits caused LADEE to switch off its reaction wheels shortly after powering them up, according to a mission status update. Engineers have since disabled the safety limits causing the glitch and taking extra care in restoring the fault-protection protocols.

"Our engineers will determine the appropriate means of managing the reaction wheel fault protection program. Answers will be developed over time and will not hold up checkout activities," NASA's LADEE project manager Butler Hine said in a statement.

"The reaction wheel issue noted soon after launched was resolved a few hours later," added NASA Ames Research Center director Pete Worden. "The LADEE spacecraft is healthy and communicating with mission operators." NASA's Ames center developed and built the LADEE spacecraft, and is overseeing its mission operations.

NASA's $280 million LADEE moon mission, short for Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, is aimed at studying the moon's thin atmosphere and solving long-standing mysteries of the moon's dust.

The atmosphere of the moon, known as an "exosphere," is so thin that individual molecules don't interact with each other. Similar environments have been seen on Mercury, the moons of outer planets in the solar system, as well as some asteroids, so scientists are hoping LADEE will help better understand these strange environments.

LADEE scientists also hope the mission will yield insights into the odd "lunar glow" spotted on the moon's horizon by Apollo astronauts during NASA's lunar landings in the 1960s and 1970s. The mission will also track how moon dust moves across the lunar surface, which is key interest because the abrasive stuff can stick to spacesuits and clog up systems on future moon vehicles and rovers.

LADEE will take about 30 days to reach the moon and spend 100 days performing its lunar atmosphere and dust mission. The spacecraft will also test a new laser communications system that NASA has billed as a kind of new "interplanetary Internet."

At the end of its mission, LADEE will plummet down to the moon and crash into the lunar surface.

Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebookand Google+. Original article on SPACE.com. Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Venus Near Moon In Sky Show Tonight: How to See It

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Sept. 8, 2013

Above is an illustration of the night sky on Sun., Sept. 8, at sunset. The thin waxing crescent moon passes just south of the bright planet Venus, low in the western sky just after sunset. Spica is to their right and Saturn is to their left. (Starry Night Software)

A planetary meet-up will create a potentially dazzling celestial display this evening (Sept. 8), a cosmic show involving the two brightest objects in the nighttime sky: Venus and the moon.

The planet Venus, which has been languishing low in the dusk all summer, at last manages to stay above the west-southwest horizon as late as the end of evening twilight. About 45 minutes after sunset on Sunday (Sept. 8), look toward the west-southwest horizon to see Venus hovering rather close to a waxing crescent moon -- an eye-catching tableau in spite of the pair's low altitude in the night sky.

Weather permitting, Venus will likely catch your eye first; it will be shining less than 10 degrees above the horizon -- less than the width of your clenched fist held at arm's length. Make sure that you have a clear and unobstructed view -- toward the west-southwest, with no trees or buildings in the way. Now look off to the lower-left of Venus and you'll also see the slender sliver of a waxing crescent moon. This eye-catching duo will quickly descend as the sky darkens, finally setting about 1.5 hours after sunset beyond the west-southwest horizon. [Venus and the Crescent Moon: Amazing Photos of Night Sky Lights]

A striking celestial pair

Of all the pairings of Venus and the moon that have already occurred this summer -- or will occur during this upcoming fall and early winter season -- tonight's will be by far, the closest. Not to mention also that the two will attract immediate attention because of their great brightness.

Venus shines at magnitude -4.1, on the astronomical brightness scale, which makes it 11 times brighter than Sirius, the brightest star. On the magnitude scale, objects with lower numbers appear brighter, with negative numbers denoting extra-brilliant brightness.

The moon will be 3.5 days past new phase and about 13-percent illuminated. Look also for the beautiful phenomenon known as "earthshine" -- sunlight reflected by the Earth, directed toward the moon and dimly illuminating its dark portion with a faint gray-blue glow. That effect will impart an almost three-dimensional appearance to the moon and will enhance the overall scene.

Venus is currently 99.3 million miles from the Earth, while the moon is only about 235,800 miles away; as a result, Earth appears to move much more rapidly against the background stars than Venus in the September night sky. As a consequence of this rapid movement, when the sun sets on the following evening (Monday, Sept. 10), the configuration between Venus and the moon will have radically changed.

In fact, the moon -- whose illuminated sliver will have noticeably widened to 21 percent -- will now be positioned far to the east of Venus, and to the left, but closer to and slightly below another planet: Saturn.

During the daytime, too!

The moon's proximity relative to Venus will give you an excellent chance to try to glimpse Venus during the daytime. If your sky is mostly clear with little or no haze, check your south-southwest sky during the late afternoon hours of Sunday -- say around 4 or 5 p.m. -- and try to locate the moon, which will appear roughly about one-third up from the horizon to the overhead point (called the zenith).

If you find the moon, Venus will be situated just about one degree directly above it. Try using binoculars first and then your unaided eyes.

Making travel plans?

Some skywatchers in one remote locale may also watch a very spectacular sight -- an "eclipse" of the planet Venus as the moon passes directly between that dazzling planet and the Earth. The event will hide Venus for about an hour or so. Astronomers call that an "occultation" from the Latin occulere, meaning "to conceal." To the naked eye as Venus begins to emerge from behind the dark part of the moon's disk, it resembles a brightening jewel on the lunar limb.

Unfortunately, in order to see this beautiful sight on tonight you'll need to be stationed almost at the bottom of the world -- the Falkland Islands!

And if clouds block your view of Sunday's Venus-moon get together, another (albeit much wider) pairing-off will occur a month from now, on Oct. 8.

Sunday night stargazing webcasts

If clouds or rain ruin your view of the Venus and the moon tonight, you can still find some amazing night sky views online. The Slooh Space Camera, an online stargazing website, will offer two free webcasts tonight to discuss asteroids and comets, as well as show live views of Mars in the Beehive Star Cluster.

The asteroid and comet webcast begins at 9 p.m. EDT (0100 Sept. 7 GMT) and will include live views of asteroids from Slooh's remotely operated observatory in the Canary Islands, off the west coast of Africa. The second late-night webcast will begin Monday at 1:30 a.m. EDT (0530 GMT) and showcase Mars and the Beehive Star Cluster. According to Slooh officials, viewers can "watch real-time images of the Red Planet Mars as it enters the Beehive Star Cluster. This beautiful visual spectacle is an optical illusion as the Beehive Cluster is actually 577 light-years away."

You can watch the night sky webcasts live on SPACE.com, courtesy of Slooh. You can also see the shows directly via the Slooh Space Camera website and Slooh iPad app.

Editor's note: If you snap an amazing photo of the moon near Venus -- or any other night-sky sight -- and would like to share it with SPACE.com for a possible story or photo gallery, please send images and comments, including name and equipment used, to managing editor Tariq Malik at: spacephotos@space.com.

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for Natural History magazine, the Farmer's Almanac and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, N.Y. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on SPACE.com.


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Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

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Diana Nyad's Team Responds to Skeptics

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Sept. 8, 2013

In this Sept. 2, 2013, file photo, Diana Nyad, positioned about two miles off Key West, Fla., swims towards the completion of her 111-mile trek from Cuba to the Florida Keys. (AP Photo/Florida Keys Bureau, Andy Newman, File)

MIAMI (AP) - Diana Nyad's 110-mile swim from Cuba to Florida has generated positive publicity and adoration for the 64-year-old endurance athlete - along with skepticism from some members of the small community of marathon swimmers who are questioning whether she accomplished the feat honestly.

On social media and the online Marathon Swimmers Forum, long-distance swimmers have been debating whether Nyad got a boost from the boat that was accompanying her - either by getting in it or holding onto it - during a particularly speedy stretch of her swim. They also question whether she violated the traditions of her sport - many follow strict guidelines known as the English Channel rules - by using a specialized mask and wetsuit to protect herself from jellyfish.

"When you know how hard it is, you kind of want those details," said Andrew Malinak, a Seattle long-distance swimmer who crunched the data available from the GPS positions tracked on Nyad's website and concluded that he didn't trust what he saw.

Nyad's navigator and one of the swim's official observers told The Associated Press this weekend that Nyad didn't cheat and that she was aided during the rapid part of her swim by a swift current. And neither Nyad nor her team ever said she would follow English Channel rules, developed for swimming the waters between England and France. Those rules outlaw protective wetsuits and contact with a support boat. Nyad wore her wetsuit mostly at night, when jellyfish are a particular problem, and removed it once she got over the reef on her approach to Key West.

According to Nyad's team, she finished the swim Monday afternoon after roughly 53 hours in the water, becoming the first to do so without a shark cage. It was her fifth try, an endeavor apparently free from the boat troubles, bad weather, illnesses and jellyfish encounters that have bedeviled Nyad and other swimmers in recent years.

Nyad's progress was tracked online via GPS by her team, and some critics say they think information is missing.

Many wonder about a roughly seven-hour stretch when Nyad apparently didn't stop to eat or drink, recalling her 2012 attempt when she got onto the boat for hours during rough weather. Nyad eventually got back into the water to try finishing, but her team was criticized for delaying the release of that information to the public.

Malinak said the hours-long spike in Nyad's speed after 27 hours of swimming is particularly questionable - she went from her normal pace of roughly 1.5 mph to more than 3 mph, then slowed down again as she approached Key West.

Nyad's spokeswomen did not immediately return telephone calls this weekend, but her navigator and Janet Hinkle, one of the official observers for the swim, told the AP that Nyad didn't cheat.

Navigator John Bartlett said the increased speed was due to the fast-moving Gulf Stream working in her favor, nothing more.

"At some points we were doing almost 4 miles an hour," Bartlett said. "That's just the way it works. If the current is in your favor at all, that explains it."

The data collected by Bartlett and two observers will be submitted to three open-water swimming associations and the Guinness World Records for verification, Bartlett said.

An oceanographer not affiliated with Nyad's team said the swimmer couldn't have picked a more perfect current to get from Havana to Key West.

Mitch Roffer of Melbourne-based Roffer's Ocean Fishing Forecasting Service Inc. said he got an email questioning whether Nyad's swim was a hoax, so he decided to look at the charts for himself. What he saw convinced him that she could do it.

"Many times that current runs west-east and you're constantly fighting the current if you're swimming north. In this case, it was in the shape of an S, and the angle was almost exactly from Havana to Key West," Roffer said.

Janet Hinkle, a Key West boat captain and acquaintance of Nyad's, was called to be an observer for the swim when Steve Munatones, a former U.S. national open-water coach, was unable to make it. "I can say unequivocally she swam every stroke without question," Hinkle said.

Critics have said Hinkle was too close to Nyad to be an independent observer of her swim. Hinkle has in the past helped Nyad by providing housing for her when the swimmer stayed in the Florida Keys, but she said she remained on the periphery of Nyad's team. "I think anyone who knows me knows me as a person of high integrity. I believe that's why Diana asked me, and I took my job very seriously," Hinkle said. "She was giving her all and I would give her my best."

Since none of the various open-water swimming associations dictate how someone should swim from Cuba to Florida - officially accomplished only by Nyad and Susie Maroney, who used a shark cage - Nyad just had to follow generally accepted rules about not getting out of the water or using equipment such as fins.

Australian Chloe McCardel followed English Channel rules in her attempt to swim the Florida Straits in June. She had to be pulled from the water after 11 hours after being stung jellyfish.

"Generally the rules are: You walk in, you swim across and you walk out, and you do it under your own power," said Munatones, who consulted with Nyad for this swim and observed her attempts in 2011 and 2012.

The elaborate, full-body wet suit and protective mask Nyad wore to protect herself from venomous jellyfish actually weighed her down, Munatones said.

"To put that on is like putting on a wedding gown in the ocean," he said. "It's different from the English Channel rules, but the water is different from the English Channel."

To many, it seems Nyad hasn't exactly endeared herself to those in the marathon swimming community. Some consider her primarily concerned with gaining the spotlight instead of helping others advance the sport.

At her post-swim news conference on Tuesday, Nyad admitted that she had not been rooting for McCardel and that she was miffed some members of her team would jump ship to work for a competitor.

McCardel said she was disappointed to hear Nyad call those crew members "traitors."

"One of the greatest things, I believe, about international marathon swimming is how people across the world support crew for and mentor each other. I wouldn't change this aspect of our sport for the world!" McCardel posted on her Facebook page.

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NASA's NuSTAR Craft Just 'Bagged' Its 10th Giant Black Hole

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Sept. 8, 2013

The above image of black hole number 10 was just released on NASA's Instagram page. (NASA)

NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) was lunched in June of 2012, and it is beginning to send home some pretty impressive images.

According to a new posting on the space agency's Instagram page, "NASA's black-hole-hunter spacecraft... has 'bagged' its first 10 supermassive black holes. The mission, which has a mast the length of a school bus, is the first telescope capable of focusing the highest-energy X-ray light into detailed pictures."

This double-digit black-hole shot is just the beginning -- NuSTAR is expected to nab hundreds of such images during the life of its mission.


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Tropical Storm Humberto Forms in Eastern Atlantic

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(NOAA)

Tropical Storm Humberto formed in the far eastern Atlantic early on Monday morning following a short-lived Tropical Depression 9.

Humberto started off as just a low emerging off the African coast over the weekend, becoming a tropical depression on Sunday.

What makes this system different from its predecessors that hinted at development, but failed to do so, is the atmosphere the low is moving into.

The newly formed tropical storm is tracking south of the disruptive wind shear and dry air that has kept this hurricane season relatively quiet thus far.

Without those hindrances in place, the AccuWeather.com Hurricane Center expects Humberto to gradually strengthen over the next couple of days.

How strong the system gets will depend on how long it maintains a westward heading. Eventually, Humberto will make a sharper turn to the north and could encounter the drier air, stronger wind shear and even cooler water.

The longer Humberto delays that turn to the north, the more opportunity it has to strengthen. If it manages to become a hurricane before Thursday, it would prevent 2013 from setting the record for the formation of the latest first Atlantic hurricane in a season.

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That record, for storms in the satellite era, is currently held by 2002 when Gustav reached hurricane status on Sept. 11, according to AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.

Tropical Storm Humberto is expected to definitely make that northward turn prior to reaching the central Atlantic, sparing the Caribbean Islands from being impacted.

Farther down the road, it appears that the system should not reach the United States.

The worst impacts to land will come over the Cape Verde Islands. Potentially flooding rain threatens to spread across the islands on Monday through Tuesday. Depending on when Humberto takes its northward turn, the drenching could last through Wednesday.

Damaging winds and rough surf will become greater concerns the more that Humberto strengthens over the warm waters of the eastern Atlantic.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic

A close eye is also being kept on the area of disturbed weather north of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola that contains part of what was once-Tropical Storm Gabrielle.

The window can open for this area to gradually become better organized if the disruptive wind shear in its path to the north lessens.

Even if development occurs, the cold front set to bring another shot of cool air to the Northeast late this week will keep the system away from the United States.

Interests in Bermuda, however, should monitor the feature. Some drenching showers and thunderstorms could still reach the island nation midweek regardless of whether or not a tropical depression takes shape.

The AccuWeather.com Hurricane Center will also be watching the southwestern Gulf of Mexico for another system to follow in the footsteps of once-Tropical Depression Eight and Tropical Storm Fernand.

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More Record Heat for Midwest This Week

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Lake Michigan, Chicago (Photo by Tim Boyle/Getty Images)

As an intense wheel of heat spins across the central and southern Plains, a cold front slowly dropping down from Canada will push the highest temperatures into the Midwest early this week.

In the wake of weekend storminess, Chicago cooled down into the 70s for Sunday, but the respite from summerlike warmth will be short-lived.

Extreme temperatures Sunday from Goodland, Kan., into McCook, Neb., will make a surge into the Midwest on Monday into Tuesday.

On Monday, highs will hit the middle and upper 90s from Omaha, Neb., into Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Saint Louis, Mo. Some spots may even reach the 100-degree mark.

On Tuesday, the heat will make its way into Chicago, with high temperatures nearing the record of 95 degrees, set on Sept. 10, 1983.

Interestingly, one has to go back to Sept. 26, 1998, to find the last time a record high was observed in Chicago for the month of September.



If you have any other outdoor plans the next few days, here are a few helpful ideas for staying safe in the heat from Chicago's Northwestern Memorial Hospital:

- Stay Hydrated. The most important tip is to remember to drink plenty of water. Sports drinks can also restore body fluids, electrolytes, and salt balance.

- Avoid Midday Rays. Stay indoors if possible during peak temperatures, which are typically between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.

- Dress Appropriately. Wear loose clothing that allows your body to breath, such as cotton and protect your head and face from the sun by wearing a hat with a brim.

- Limit Intense Activity. Refrain from intensive outdoor activity in high humidity, which can hinder sweat from evaporating quickly and prevent the body from releasing heat effectively.

A strong cold front will cut its way through the sweltering heat on Wednesday, triggering showers and thunderstorms. Much cooler and more refreshing air will arrive late this week into the weekend.

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Scientists Assess Damage From Yosemite-Area Fire

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Crews clear California Highway 120 of debris, as they fought the Rim Fire near Yosemite National Park Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013. (AP Photo/U.S. Forest Service, Mike McMillan)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Scientists are assessing the damage from a massive wildfire burning around Yosemite National Park, laying plans to protect habitat and waterways as the fall rainy season approaches.

Members of the federal Burned Area Emergency Response team were hiking the rugged Sierra Nevada terrain Saturday even as thousands of firefighters still were battling the four-week-old blaze, now the third-largest wildfire in modern California history.

Federal officials have amassed a team of 50 scientists, more than twice what is usually deployed to assess wildfire damage. With so many people assigned to the job, they hope to have a preliminary report ready in two weeks so remediation can start before the first storms, Alex Janicki, the Stanislaus National Forest BAER response coordinator, said.

Team members are working to identify areas at the highest risk for erosion into streams, the Tuolumne River and the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, San Francisco's famously pure water supply.

The wildfire started in the Stanislaus National Forest on Aug. 17 when a hunter's illegal fire swept out of control and has burned 394 square miles of timber, meadows and sensitive wildlife habitat.

It has cost more than $89 million to fight, and officials say it will cost tens of millions of dollars more to repair the environmental damage alone.

About 5 square miles of the burned area is in the watershed of the municipal reservoir serving 2.8 million people - the only one in a national park.

"That's 5 square miles of watershed with very steep slopes," Janicki said "We are going to need some engineering to protect them."

So far the water remains clear despite falling ash, and the city water utility has a six month supply in reservoirs closer to the Bay Area.

The BAER team will be made up of hydrologists, botanists, archeologists, biologists, geologists and soil scientists from the U.S. Forest Service, Yosemite National Park, the Natural Resource Conservation and the U.S. Geological Survey.

The team also will look at potential for erosion and mudslides across the burn area, assess what's in the path and determine what most needs protecting.

"We're looking to evaluate what the potential is for flooding across the burned area," said Alan Gallegos, a team member and geologist with the Sierra National Forest. "We evaluate the potential for hazard and look at what's at risk -- life, property, cultural resources, species habitat. Then we come up with a list of treatments."

In key areas with a high potential for erosion ecologists can dig ditches to divert water, plant native trees and grasses, and spray costly hydro-mulch across steep canyon walls in the most critical places.

Fire officials still have not released the name of the hunter responsible for starting the blaze. On Friday Kent Delbon, the lead investigator, would not characterize what kind of fire the hunter had set or how they had identified the suspect.

"I can say some really good detective work out there made this thing happen," he told the Associated Press.

Delbon said the Forest Service announced the cause of the fire before being able to release details in order to end rumors started by a local fire chief that the blaze ignited in an illegal marijuana garden.

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Head of Sochi Guarantees Snow -- Perhaps, Too Much

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Snow covers the area of the construction site of the Olympic village on February 10, 2012 at the Rosa Khutor Mountain Resort, in Krasnaya Polyana near Sochi, city hosting Winter Olympic games in 2014. (OLIVIER MORIN/AFP/Getty Images)

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) - The head of the Sochi Olympics has guaranteed there will be snow for the winter games next year at the Black Sea resort in the south of Russia.

Dmitry Chernyshenko said Sunday "we are ready for any surprise from the weather." He said the resort was prepared and had stored 700,000 cubic meters of snow in reservoirs, noting only 20 percent had melted over the summer.

In fact, Chernyshenko says he fears there could be "too much snow" given the resort also has snow-making machinery. There could natural snow falling, too, if temperatures drop and the moist air from the Black Sea rises over the mountains and falls.

He wrapped up his remarks to the IOC general assembly saying "there is no risk in a shortage of snow."

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Amazing Mars Solar Eclipse Videos Caught by Curiosity Rover

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This set of three images taken by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows the Martian moon Phobos eclipsing the sun on Aug. 20, 2013. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems/Texas A&M Univ.)

NASA's Curiosity rover has captured two stunning videos of solar eclipses from the surface of Mars, including one that shows the Red Planet's skies darkening dramatically above the 1-ton robot.

Curiosity recorded the two Mars solar eclipse videos on back-to-back days last month, Aug. 19 and Aug. 20. In both cases, Phobos - the larger of Mars' two tiny moons - blotted out much of the sun's disk.

Mission team members created the two eclipse videos, which NASA released Thursday (Sept. 5), by stitching together photos Curiosity snapped with its workhorse Mast Camera - 52 images for the Aug. 19 eclipse and 89 pictures for the event one day later.

[Watch Curiosity's video of a solar eclipse shadow on Mars]

Curiosity's video of the Aug. 19 eclipse, however, also includes five frames captured by the car-size rover's rear hazard-avoidance camera. These images, taken 58 seconds apart, show the Martian landscape dimming markedly and then brightening again as Phobos completes its trek across the sun's face.

Phobos is just 14 miles wide on average, but it still manages to take a pretty big bite out of the sun during an eclipse seen from Mars. That's because the tiny satellite orbits very close to the Red Planet's surface - just 3,700 miles away.

For comparison, Earth's moon is about 2,160 miles wide but zips around our planet at an average distance of 239,000 miles. That's just the right combination of size and distance to completely cover the sun's face, creating a total solar eclipse here on Earth when the alignment works out right.

Scientists think both Phobos and Mars' other minuscule satellite, Deimos, are former asteroids captured by the Red Planet's gravity long ago.

Phobos orbits Mars every eight hours, while the more far-flung Deimos (average orbital distance: 12,470 miles) completes one lap every 30 hours or so. But neither moon will be in its current orbit forever; Deimos is speeding up, while Phobos is slowing down.

Curiosity's eclipse observations should help refine scientists' understanding of the two moons' orbits, mission team members have said.

The Curiosity rover landed inside Mars' huge Gale Crater in August 2012 to determine if the Red Planet has ever been capable of supporting microbial life. In March, rover scientists announced that an area near the mission's landing site called Yellowknife Bay was indeed habitable billions of years ago.

Curiosity is now embarked on a long drive to the foothills of the towering Mount Sharp, whose many layers preserve a record of Mars' changing environmental history over time.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on SPACE.com.

Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Nyad to Meet With Swimmers Doubting Her Feat

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In this Monday, Sept. 2, 2013 photo, Diana Nyad, positioned about two miles off Key West, Fla., swims towards the completion of her 110-mile trek from Cuba to the Florida Keys. (AP Photo/Florida Keys Bureau, Andy Newman, File)

MIAMI (AP) - Diana Nyad is planning to meet with members of the marathon swimming community who are skeptical about her 110-mile swim from Cuba to Florida, her team said Monday.

Since Nyad finished her swim last week, long-distance swimmers have been debating on social media and in online forums whether the 64-year-old endurance athlete got into or held onto the boat accompanying her. They say she could not have picked up as much speed as she says she did from the fast-moving Gulf Stream current.

"Diana is proud of what she and her team accomplished last week, and she is committed to complete transparency," said Alexandra Crotin, one of Nyad's spokeswomen.

Nyad planned to meet Tuesday with "her peers in the swimming community," Crotin said.

Her navigator and one of the swim's official observers told The Associated Press over the weekend that Nyad swam in favorable currents the entire distance herself without aid.

According to Nyad's team, she finished the swim Sept. 2 after roughly 53 hours in the water, becoming the first to do so without a shark cage. It was her fifth try over the course of more than 30 years.

Nyad's progress was tracked online via GPS by her team - data that is now fueling speculation that Nyad stopped swimming or received assistance for hours at a time in the middle of the Florida Straits.

Many wonder about a roughly seven-hour stretch when Nyad apparently didn't stop to eat or drink, recalling her 2012 attempt when she got onto the boat for hours during rough weather. Nyad eventually got back into the water to try finishing, but her team was criticized for delaying the release of that information to the public.

Some swimmers analyzing the available data say Nyad, who has said she tends to swim at a speed of roughly 1.5 mph, appeared to maintain sprinter's pace or faster for a considerable amount of time.

Navigator John Bartlett said the increased speed was due to the Gulf Stream working in her favor, nothing more.

"At some points we were doing almost 4 miles an hour," Bartlett said. "That's just the way it works. If the current is in your favor at all, that explains it."

Some of Nyad's critics also question whether she violated the traditions of her sport - many follow strict guidelines known as the English Channel rules - by using a specialized mask and bodysuit to protect herself from jellyfish.

Nyad never said she would follow English Channel rules, and she wore a full, non-neoprene bodysuit, gloves, booties and a silicone mask at night, when jellyfish are a particular problem, and removed the suit once she got over the reef on her approach to Key West.

The data collected by Bartlett and two observers will be submitted to three open-water swimming associations and the Guinness World Records for verification, Bartlett said.

 

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Photos: NASA Launches LADEE Probe to Moon

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Watch: Stunning Drone Video of Burning Man 2013

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What does the fabled festival in the Nevada desert look like from above? This stunning video shot with a GoPro Hero3 on a drone offers a pretty good idea. Be sure to change the quality to HD for the most awe-inspiring version.

 

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Will Humberto Form Into Atlantic Season's First Hurricane?

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Updated Sept. 10, 2013; 3:05 p.m. ET


Whether or not the record holds for the latest first Atlantic hurricane is up to Humberto, currently a tropical storm with 70-mph sustained winds.

Since the satellite era began during the early 1960s, the latest the first hurricane of the season formed was 2002's Gustav on Sept. 11. Gustav was upgraded from a tropical storm to a minimal hurricane that Wednesday midday, shortly after 8:00 a.m. EDT.

As of Tuesday morning, September 10, there have been no hurricanes thus far during the 2013 season in the Atlantic. However, Humberto, near the Cape Verde Islands Monday has a chance at becoming the Atlantic's first hurricane Tuesday night into early Wednesday.

If Humberto strengthens to a hurricane and does so before Wednesday midday, the late-forming hurricane record will remain intact.

According to Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski, "Humberto is entering an area of the atmosphere with low disruptive winds."

These diminishing winds could be enough to allow the storm to strengthen to a minimal hurricane.

"Late this week, Humberto is likely to weaken while moving into a a zone with drier air and more disruptive winds," Kottlowski said.

A curve to the northwest and then the north is forecast this week, which will take Humberto over the open waters of the Central Atlantic with no serious direct impact to mainland areas.

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According to senior meteorologist Kristina Pydynowski, "the greatest impact from Humberto will be on the Cape Verde Islands this week." Locally gusty thunderstorms, downpours and rough surf and seas will affect the islands.

Prior to the satellite era, the 1941 season did not deliver an Atlantic hurricane until Sept. 16.

Farther back, there were two years that had no reports of hurricanes in the Atlantic. These were in 1907 and 1914. While it is possible there were no hurricanes during both seasons, there were only five reported tropical storms in 1907 and only one in 1914. Especially, during the latter season, a number of storms may have gone undetected without the aid of weather satellite photos.

Beyond Humberto, there are no strong candidates for hurricanes through the middle of September. However, there may be another tropical depression or storm over the next week to ten days. Possible tropical depression/storm breeding areas include the western Caribbean, the southwestern Gulf of Mexico and the continued train of disturbances moving westward off of Africa.

Residents of southern Texas would welcome any reasonable rain, without damaging winds and surf.

The season thus far has treated most populated areas of North America kindly. Sadly, it has claimed lives in Mexico, due to flooding from Tropical Storm Fernand in August.

Late-season storms in some years have been very destructive.

According to Meteorologist Mark Mancuso, "While 2005's Wilma occurred during the most active Atlantic hurricane season on record, it did not come about until the middle of October."

Wilma became the most intense hurricane on record in the Atlantic basin, in terms of low atmospheric pressure. Maximum sustained winds reached 185 mph. Wilma killed dozens of people and caused nearly $30 billion in damage from the Caribbean, to the eastern United States, Canada and later Europe.

While the season thus far has been tame compared to some years, many meteorologists concur that the 2013 Atlantic hurricane season is not over yet and will not sound the "all-clear" until the weather pattern suggests that.

If Humberto fails as a hurricane, the odds suggest there will be more systems to monitor over the next two months. Alerts to such systems will be sounded, when appropriate.

There is a chance there are three active tropical systems spinning over the Atlantic basin simultaneously later this week. These include Humberto, Gabrielle and perhaps a system over the southwestern Gulf of Mexico.

People should consider hurricanes as being just as much of an autumn weather phenomena as well as a summer phenomena. Hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.

Source: Dr. Chris Landsea, NOAA's Hurricane Research Division. Last updated May 10, 2013.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, since 1851, there have been 645 hurricanes during the months of September, October and November, compared to 321 hurricanes during June, July and August.

"Even if the large high pressure area and its dry air over the central Atlantic was to hold through the remainder of the season, occasional weaknesses in that system can still allow hurricane formation over the next two months," Kottlowski said.

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Tropical Storm Gabrielle Nearing Bermuda

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Updated Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2013, 8:19 p.m. ET


HAMILTON, Bermuda (AP) - Tropical Storm Gabrielle brought gusty winds, rain and rough surf to Bermuda on Tuesday evening as its center neared the wealthy British territory after reforming over the Atlantic.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said the storm was centered about 30 miles (45 kilometers) south-southwest of Bermuda on Tuesday evening and was moving northward with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (95 kph). It was expected to pass over or near Bermuda during the night.

Government authorities urged people in the storm-hardened Atlantic territory to finish last-minute preparations, and some residents left work early. Supermarkets were crowded with customers buying candles, batteries and other emergency supplies.

"Gabrielle has proven somewhat unpredictable and so I caution everyone to take this storm seriously and to prepare for the forecast conditions," Public Safety Minister Michael Dunkley said.

The territory suspe nded ferry service Tuesday afternoon as wind and rain picked up, and officials announced that schools would be closed Wednesday. Flights were cancelled Tuesday.

British visitors Tom and Laura Palmer said they were stuck in Bermuda until Thursday because British Airways cancelled inbound and outbound flights to the island until the stormy weather cleared.

"We don't mind staying a few more days despite the weather," said Tom Palmer, a resident of Crawley, England. British Airways "are paying, so we're fine."

Local painter Coolridge Eve said he was mostly unconcerned about the approaching storm but he had earlier checked a shark oil-based barometer that Bermudians traditionally use to gauge rough weather.

"I looked at my shark oil this morning; it told me something was brewing up. How close it is, I don't really know, but I'm ready," Eve said.

Bermuda, an offshore financial haven and tourist destination, has strong building codes and residents are accustomed to storms.

U.S. forecasters said Gabrielle was likely to drop some 4 inches (13 centimeters) of rain on Bermuda. Storm surge of up to 3 feet (nearly 1 meter) above normal tide levels was also predicted.

Some slight strengthening was possible over the next two days as Gabrielle moved over open waters, according to U.S. forecasters.

Farther east out in the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Humberto was nearly a hurricane as its maximum sustained winds increased to near 70 mph (110 kph). It currently poses no threat to land.

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