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Tropical Storm Dean is forecast to become the year's first hurricane by the end of the week.Meanwhile,a tropical wave in the Gulf of Mexico could reach tropical storm strength before bringing heavy rain to South Texas on Wednesday.At 11 a.m. EDT today,Dean was located in the central Atlantic,approximately 1500 miles east of the Lesser Antilles island chain,moving west at 23 mph.The maximum sustained winds in fourth named storm of the 2007 Atlantic Basin hurricane season were near 40 mph with higher gusts.The Hurricane Center reports steering winds associated with a large area of high pressure over the Atlantic will steer Dean to the west over the next several days.Dean will likely intensify as it moves toward warmer water and is expected to become the first Atlantic hurricane of 2007 by later this week. Tropical Storm Dean is forecast to reach the Lesser Antilles by Thursday or Friday.The positioning of the jet stream over the western Atlantic will determine which path Dean takes next week. Interests from Lesser Antilles to the Gulf of Mexico,the Caribbean Sea and the southeast U.S. should closely monitor the development of the tropical storm.As in the days of Noah...
