PINELLAS COUNTY – Cristobal became the third tropical storm of the 2008 Atlantic Hurricane season on Saturday, July 19.
The National Hurricane Center announced at 2 p.m. that the storm had formed just off the South Carolina coast. It is the first tropical storm of the season to threaten the United States.
Cristobal formed from the same weather system that brought flooding rains to much of Florida as it moved across the state as a tropical low last week.
As of Saturday afternoon, the center of the storm was about 100 miles east of Charleston, moving northeast at about 7 mph. Cristobal was expected to continue to move along the coasts of South and North Carolina through the weekend.
Maximum sustained winds were near 40 mph with higher gusts. NHC meteorologists said some strengthening was forecast; however, the latest tracking maps do not show the storm growing to hurricane strength.
The NHC predicted that as many as 16 named storms could form in 2008. Of that number six to nine could be hurricanes and two to five could strengthen into major hurricanes. A major hurricane is a Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
An average season has 11 named storms, including six hurricanes and two major hurricanes.
The NHC was still tracking Hurricane Bertha on Saturday as it moved north and east of through the Atlantic. Bertha was the first hurricane of 2008 and the first major hurricane.
The NHC was also issuing alerts about a system in the western Caribbean Sea that could become a tropical depression in the next couple of days. The track of this storm shows it moving through the northwestern Caribbean Sea toward the Yucatan Peninsula.
Emergency management officials continue to urge residents to stay prepared and in tune with local weather forecasts throughout hurricane season. Hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.
