As Gabrielle Weakens, Another Storm Brews

Tropical Storm Gabrielle was weakening as it pulled away from the U.S. coast, where it had dropped 4-6 inches of rain on parts of North Carolina. The storm was of so little consequence that it didn't even relieve drought conditions plaguing the state.

But forecasters at the National Hurricane Center are watching another broad area of low pressure associated with a tropical wave 900 miles west-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands that is producing clouds and thunderstorms. As the system organizes, forecasters say it could form into a tropical depression within a couple of days as it continues to move west-northwestward.

Sept. 10 is the traditional peak of the Atlantic hurricane season, based on past statistics. The season has been extraordinary -- with two Category 5 hurricanes making landfall for the first time on record, and within two weeks of one another no less -- but it has not produced the number of storms -- yet -- that forecasters had predicted.

For more on that, see this analysis: Hurricane Season Hits Traditional Peak

COMMENTS ()