A first in recorded history, 2 named tropical storms on E & W coast before season officially starts

If you haven't been following tropical weather yet it would really be no surprise as the season has just started for the Pacific and the start of the Atlantic region's season isn't until June 1st, 2012. However the two tropical storms that have formed in each region seemingly do not care about any schedule.

The latest storm to have just recently been upgraded to tropical storm status in the Atlantic is Alberto.

The latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center:

000
WTNT61 KNHC 192250
TCUAT1

TROPICAL STORM ALBERTO TROPICAL CYCLONE UPDATE
NWS NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL012012
650 PM EDT SAT MAY 19 2012

...SHIP INDICATES ALBERTO IS STRONGER...

REPORTS FROM A SHIP NEAR THE CENTER OF ALBERTO INDICATE THAT THE
CYCLONE IS STRONGER THAN PREVIOUSLY ESTIMATED. BASED PRIMARILY ON
THE PRESSURE DATA...MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NOW ESTIMATED TO BE
60 MPH...95 KM/H. LITTLE CHANGE IN STRENGTH IS EXPECTED OVER THE
NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS AND NO CHANGES TO THE OFFICIAL FORECAST ARE
REQUIRED AT THIS TIME.


SUMMARY OF 650 PM...2250 UTC...INFORMATION
--------------------------------------------------
LOCATION...32.2N 77.9W
ABOUT 130 MI...210 KM ESE OF CHARLESTON SOUTH CAROLINA
ABOUT 120 MI...190 KM S OF CAPE FEAR NORTH CAROLINA
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...60 MPH...95 KM/H
PRESENT MOVEMENT...SW OR 220 DEGREES AT 3 MPH...6 KM/H
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...995 MB...29.38 INCHES

$$
FORECASTER BLAKE/FRANKLIN

Here is an excerpt from an article that CNN ran regarding Alberto:

Tropical Storm Alberto forms in the Atlantic

This year marks the first time in recorded history that a tropical storm has formed in both the east Pacific basin and Atlantic basin before the official start of hurricane season, the Hurricane Center said. The Pacific storm was called Aletta.

I have done some recent digging due to a thread I recently posted and there are seemingly some varying opinions on the number and severity of named storms for the 2012 season. Some articles say fewer, some say more, and some say potentially more dangerous due to current weather patterns.

"What If" Scenario: Major Hurricane heads for Tampa Bay, FL during Republican National Convention

So far, this season is leaning toward the side of seeing more as opposed to less, severity is still too early to tell. Time will eventually reveal how this season ends up, best practice would be to prepare regardless, it usually never hurts to be prepared in any event.

Good post! I saw this on the WC last night and I found myself surprised by the one off the east coast. Do they normally form off of the coast there? I found that so strange, can't recall seeing them form right off of our coast, a couple hundred miles off-shore.

reply to post by UberL33t


Thanks for bringing more attention to this.
I'm not surprised and I already guessed that this was going to happen since they stated that the new Saffir-Simpson Scale was going to go into effect on May 15th. Of course I was being ridiculous to even suggest that we were going to have an early hurricane season.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

We need to start questioning why they do things like set dates early. They do everything for a reason.

go back and look at where this storm came from it came up the coast inland got to just inside north carolina stop, sat there for a day then moved south west off the coast and turned into a ts I have never seen a storm do that as long as I have been in N.C.

Last I saw, we were in the cone for the Atlantic storm. It's a small storm and we could really use the rain, so I don't mind. about this storm I say ... bring it. My grass is turning brown and we can use a few inches of rain.