 The strongest storm of the season , Hurricane Ellen , began as a tropical wave that moved off the western coast of Africa on September 13 . On the following day , the wave spawned an area of low pressure south of the Cape Verde Islands that quickly became a tropical depression . Tracking northeast , the system intensified into a tropical storm on September 15 after sustained winds of 45 mph ( 75 km / h ) were reported by a French naval vessel ; however , due to sparse data on the storm , the first advisory on Ellen was not issued for two more days . A slightly elongated storm , Ellen gradually intensified over the open Atlantic and was steered by two troughs of low pressure . On September 18 , the storm took a nearly due west track and the system became increasingly organized , with an ill @-@ defined eye becoming present on satellite imagery . 
