ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The first tropical storm ahead of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season is moving away from the U.S.
Tropical Storm Arthur is a 50-mph storm located about 110 miles northeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, according to the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center. It is moving northeast at 16 mph.
Its minimum central pressure, an indication of the storm's strength, is 993 mb.
This area of disturbed weather has been monitored for about the past week or so for possible tropical development.
Hurricane Center forecasters Saturday afternoon officially designated the system Tropical Depression One before finding it strengthened to Tropical Storm Arthur. A storm with wind speeds in excess of 39 mph but less than 74 mph is considered a tropical storm.
The greatest impacts were felt across North Carolina's coast and the Outer Banks, with tropical-storm-force winds and heavy rainfall lashing the area late Sunday into Monday.
Dangerous surf and rip currents will be ongoing for the next couple of days, however, along the East Coast.
With Arthur named, it is the sixth year in a row that there has been a named tropical system prior to the official June 1 start of the Atlantic hurricane season. Colorado State University meteorologist Philip Klotzbach points out there is no strong correlation between the date of the first-named storm compared to the rest of the hurricane season.
However, several projections of this upcoming season, including Colorado State University, Penn State University and AccuWeather, point to an above-average season largely because of warm sea surface temperatures and the lack of El Niño.
But remember: It only takes one hurricane to turn an otherwise quiet season into one for the history books, so be prepared.
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