Hurricane season hasn't begun yet but it may be poised for an early start. An area of low pressure spinning off the Carolina coastline on May the 19th (Saturday) has the potential to strengthen over the next few days.
This is the view from satellite early Saturday morning. Notice the bright white cloud tops indicating thunderstorms forming near the circulation center.
Computer model guidance (spaghetti plots) take the storm away from the US and into the open Atlantic in the next few days.
Intensity forecasts show a slow increase in wind speed above tropical storm status in a few days, making it a fairly stout subtropical storm by next week:
This is not terribly unusual for this time of year as these storms do not follow the calendar and can form several weeks on either side of the beginning or end of tropical cyclone season. It will be interesting to watch this
one evolve over the next few days. We'll keep you posted if anything interesting develops!
Chief Meteorologist Derek Beasley
