Well over the weekend the tropics became a bit more active then they were on Friday morning. Let's start where we left off. Bertha is no longer a threat to the US. Actually there aren't anymore advisories being issued on that storm. It was a pesky one that stuck around a little longer than normal tropical storms.

Cristobal is the closest to US land right now. It is at tropical storm strength and winds are currently at 50mph. The location is 110mph from Cape Hatteras, NC. The good news is that it is skirting back towards the Atlantic and is not expected to make landfall. Tropical storm winds are extending out to 125mph so there are some areas experiencing winds greater than 35mph. There are Tropical Storm Warnings for this storm from basically North Carolina all the way up the coast to Maine. This is more for the storm surge than anything, but heavy rains and high winds are possible. The good news is that it is not expected to become a hurricane and will quickly become extra-tropical.

The focus is quickly turning to Hurricane Dolly in the Gulf. Let's run down the current stats first. Winds are at 50 mph and tropical storm force winds do extend outward up to 175 miles. Current location is on the Yucatan Peninsula and moving towards the North and west at 16mph. Tropical storm warnings are in effect from Texas to the middle of the Florida panhandle.

The forecast on this storm is very important. First off, it appears that it may become the first storm to make landfall on the US coast. If it does, it will do so at the very tip of Texas, near Brownsville. Also, it may become a hurricane by then. It really depends on how much steam it loses while it is over land on the Yucatan Peninsula. If it reemerges on the other side with winds over 45 mph then I would say it is a safe bet that it will become a hurricane by tomorrow.

A bit of a side note: There is a chance of more development off the African Coast. A very well defined system is moving off the coast and once it hits the warmer water we may see a quickly developing tropical storm. That isn't expected to happen until Wednesday morning.