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MIAMI-The third tropical storm of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season, Cristobal, formed off the U.S. East Coast on Saturday and gale-force winds and heavy rains were expected to lash the Carolinas as the storm grazed the shoreline on a northeasterly path.Hurricane Bertha, meanwhile, defied cool Atlantic waters to cling to hurricane strength while a strong tropical wave south of Jamaica was expected to develop into a depression-the precursor to a storm-as it headed toward Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and the oil rigs of the Gulf of Mexico beyond. Cristobal was over marginally warm waters and while it was expected to strengthen over the coming days it was not seen becoming a hurricane, which requires winds of at least 74 miles per hour (119 km per hour), the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.It was about 100 miles east of Charleston, South Carolina, by 2 p.m. EDT and moving to the northeast parallel to the coastline at 7 mph (11 kph) with 40 mph (65 kph) winds, the Miami-based hurricane center said.A tropical storm warning was in effect from South Santee River in South Carolina to the North Carolina/Virginia border and rainfall of up to 5 inches could be expected in coastal areas, the center said.Bertha, far to the east in the open Atlantic, continued to display an ominous resilience as it raced over chilly waters in the direction of distant Iceland.The first hurricane of the season-now on its way to becoming one of the longest-lived Atlantic storms on record-Bertha formed on July 3 near the Cape Verde islands off the coast of Africa, signaling an early start to what might turn out to be an active six-month hurricane season.To read more go to:
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As in the days of Noah.....
