Ophelia becomes historic hurricane, moves toward Europe

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FORT MYERS, Fla. A storm in the central Atlantic won’t affect the U.S., but it will go down in history.

Tropical Storm Ophelia strengthened into a hurricane, the National Hurricane Center said in its 5 p.m. advisory. It’s the 10th straight named storm to become a hurricane in the Atlantic. That hasn’t happened since 1893.

MORE: Tropical Storm Ophelia forms in Atlantic; no threat to SWFL

Ophelia has maximum sustained winds of 85 mph and is 745 miles southwest of the Azores, moving east at 3 mph.

It’s forecast to turn northeastward toward Europe over the next several days but is expected to weaken into a tropical storm before a potential landfall in the British Isles.

MORE: Tropical Storm Ophelia expected to become hurricane, no US threat

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