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Terradaily.com wrote:'Tropical Depression One' kicks up in Caribbean Sea
MIAMI, June 10 (AFP) Jun 10, 2006
The first tropical depression of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season has formed in the northwestern Caribbean Sea, US forecasters said Saturday.

They warned of heavy rainfall, potential flash floods and mudslides in western Cuba, the Cayman Islands and western Florida, as the system moves north, then curves east, according to predictions, over the next two days.

Tropical depressions can strengthen into tropical storms and then hurricanes, bringing the possibility of the first named storm of the 2006 season just days after its start.

The storm was 80 kilometers (50 miles) south-southwest of the western tip of Cuba at 1300 GMT Saturday, moving north-northwest at 19 kilometers (12 miles) per hour, with maximum sustained winds near 55 kilometers (35 miles) per hour.

"Some strengthening is forecast during the next 24 hours, and the depression could become a tropical storm later today," the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory.

Weather experts have forecast between eight to 10 hurricanes -- six of them major -- during the official June 1-November 30 hurricane season.

Last year, Hurricane Katrina killed 1,300 people and displaced tens of thousands along the US Gulf coast. New Orleans is still battling to recover, and engineers have warned its levees could not withstand another battering.

UPDATE 2-Alberto becomes first named storm of Atlantic season
Sun Jun 11, 2006 12:16pm ET

By Michael Connor

MIAMI, June 11 (Reuters) - The first tropical storm of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season, Alberto, formed off Cuba on Sunday and appeared headed toward Florida, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

The storm, located in late morning near latitude 23.9 north and longitude 88.1 west in the Gulf of Mexico, was about 400 miles (645 km) west of Key West, Florida, according to the center's Web site (http://www.nhc.noaa.gov).

Alberto was a wake-up call for a new hurricane season for U.S. coastal residents battered by eight hurricanes in the last two years, including Hurricane Katrina -- the most costly and one of the deadliest natural disasters in America's history.

Alberto's maximum sustained winds had risen to near 45 mph (75 kph) and a slight strengthening of the winds, which reached as far as 175 miles (280 km) east of the storm's center, was possible during the next day, the forecasters in Miami said.

The storm was headed northwest at about 9 mph (15 kph) and was expected to turn toward the northeast during the next 24 hours, forecasters said.

Alberto has dumped heavy rain on Cuba and was predicted to make landfall in heavily populated Florida early on Tuesday morning, cross the northern part of the state, and then enter the Atlantic.

"Rainfall amounts of 4 to 8 inches are possible over the Florida Keys and the Florida peninsula through Monday," the hurricane center said in a bulletin.

Florida emergency management officials have put responders on heightened alert by activating the state's emergency operations center to monitor the storm.

In western Cuba, rainfall from Alberto was expected to add up to 10 to 20 inches and, in some places with higher terrain, total rainfall could be as much as 30 inches and create dangerous flash floods and mud slides, the U.S. forecasters said.

While they do not present a significant threat to developed nations, tropical storms can cause deadly floods in low-lying areas and destroy ramshackle buildings in poor countries.

Ra wrote:Here we go again. I wonder how long until I have to put up the Hurricane Flag avvie? Any bets? :sad: