Weather
Three tropical systems form in 24 hours
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The forecast track for Tropical Depression Four shows a path into the Florida Panhandle.
Three tropical systems — two tropical storms and a tropical depression — broke the calm of the 2009 hurricane season in the 24 hours from Saturday to Sunday morning.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami is tracking Tropical Storm Ana and Tropical Storm Bill in the Atlantic and a tropical depression off Florida's west coast in the Gulf of Mexico.
Ana formed at 5 a.m. Saturday in the eastern Atlantic, followed by Bill at 5 p.m. farther east in the open ocean. Then the mass of thunderstorms that swept the Keys on Saturday consolidated into Tropical Depression Four at 5 a.m. Sunday.
While Ana and Bill are far from any coast, the tropical depression that popped up in the Gulf was only 90 miles west-southwest of Tampa and about 155 miles south-southeast of Apalachicola in the Florida Panhandle.
At 5 a.m. Sunday, the NHC issued a tropical storm warning from the Alabama-Florida border eastward to the Suwannee River. TD Four had sustained winds of 35 mph and was moving north-northwest at 16 mph, giving the Panhandle only about 10 hours to prepare for tropical storm conditions.
In the Caribbean, Tropical Storm Ana prompted the NHC to issue a tropical storm watch for Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, Antigua, Barbuda, St, Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius in the Lesser Antilles.
Ana had top winds of about 40 mph and was moving west at 20 mph.
For official storm information and warnings, see the NHC site at www.nhc.noaa.gov
Tropical Depression Four forecast information
Tropical Storm Ana forecast information
Tropical Storm Bill forecast information
Weather links
The National Hurricane Center
National Weather Service forecast office for the Keys
Florida Keys current hazards page
Florida Keys current conditions — weather observations page
Molasses Reef Bouy — offshore conditions buoy network
Key West radar — NEXRAD composite loop
Miami radar — NEXRAD composite loop
Tropical Weather Outlook — TPC/NHC weather discussion text
