Last of Hurricanes Builds in Atlantic

Tropical Storm Nicole fooled forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami by gaining enough strength to become a minimal Hurricane Nicole--just before the end of the Atlantic hurricane season. But Nicole was still far out at sea threatening no land. The hurricane was expected to weaken as it was swept even farther north over cooler seas to end a very active hurricane season--the deadliest in more than 200 years. At 10 p.m., Nicole’s center was about 770 miles southwest of the westernmost Azores in the mid-Atlantic. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30 each year. The 1998 season produced 14 named storms, 10 of them hurricanes. In September, there were four hurricanes at once--Georges, Ivan, Jeanne and Karl--for the first time since 1893.