Second Atlantic tropical depression of 2006 forms
Tue Jul 18, 2006 11:39 AM ET
MIAMI, July 18 (Reuters) - The second tropical depression of what is expected to be a busy 2006 Atlantic hurricane season formed on Tuesday, prompting a tropical storm watch for the North Carolina coast.
The center of the depression was about 220 miles (355 km) south-southeast of Cape Hatteras in North Carolina at 11 a.m. (1500 GMT), and a storm watch was issued from north of Cape Lookout to south of Currituck Beach, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in a bulletin.
The weather system was moving toward the north at 5 miles per hour (8 km per hour) and its maximum sustained winds were near 35 mph (55 kph).
The Miami-based hurricane center said the depression could become a tropical storm later in the day, or overnight, with winds of at least 39 mph (63 kph). It would then be called Tropical Storm Beryl.
The first tropical storm of the season, Alberto, spluttered harmlessly ashore in the Florida Panhandle on June 13, bringing heavy rain, a sloshing storm surge but little damage and no deaths.
Alarm over Alberto had, however, been widespread following the destruction wrought during the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season by monster storms such as hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. Katrina, the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history, devastated New Orleans and killed more than 1,500 people.
Last year's six-month hurricane season saw a record 28 tropical storms, 15 of which strengthened into hurricanes with winds of at least 74 mph (119 kph).
Forecasters expect another busy June 1-Nov. 30 season this year, with up to 17 tropical storms.
Hurricane experts believe the Atlantic has moved into a decades-long period of naturally heightened hurricane activity.
But climatologists are increasingly finding evidence that global warming could be increasing the strength of storms, with serious implications for the energy and insurance industries, and for people living on the hundreds of miles of vulnerable U.S. coastline.
© Reuters 2006. All rights reserved.
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