Season's first named storm could be in the Atlantic now

Neil Johnson in the Tampa Tribune: An area of low pressure in the Atlantic Ocean could become the hurricane season's first named storm, possibly a week before the season's official June 1 start. The area of disturbed weather has winds of about 35 mph and is several hundred miles east of the Bahamas, but its winds could push more oil from the leaking well off Louisiana into the Loop Current.

The storm's winds, circling counter-clockwise, would come from the north over the oil slick from the underwater gusher in the Gulf of Mexico starting Tuesday and possibly lasting into Thursday. The winds could push more oil into the Loop Current that runs south through the Gulf and eventually passes the Florida Keys and up the state's East Coast.

The storm's impact on the oil slick depends on how close it comes to the Carolinas. More oil could be pushed into the Loop Current if the storm gets closer to land than models now predict, said Florida State Meteorologist Amy Godsey.

….Forecast models also project the system traveling north, then northwest for the next few days with its closest approach to land near North Carolina on Wednesday before it veers east into the Atlantic Ocean later in the week without hitting land…..

This map shows the tracks of all Atlantic hurricanes which formed between 1851 and 2005. The points show the locations of the storms at six-hourly intervals and use the color scheme shown to the right from Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.