May 31, 2008 12:25 pm US/Central
Tropical Storm Arthur Forms Near Coast Of Belize
MIAMI (CBS) ―
The first storm of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season has formed near the coast of Belize.
The National Hurricane Center says Tropical Storm Arthur formed Saturday afternoon and is already moving inland.
The Mexican government has issued a tropical storm warning from Catoche south to the border with Belize, and tropical storm conditions are expected within six to 12 hours.
At 1 p.m. EDT the storm's center is located about 45 miles north-northwest of Belize City. Maximum sustained winds are near 40 miles per hour.
The storm is expected to weaken Saturday as it moves over land.
Arthur is what had been known as Tropical Storm Alma in the Pacific, said chief meteorologist David Bernard of CBS station WFOR-TV in Miami. It was renamed when it crossed into Atlantic waters.
Tropical Storm Alma weakened to a tropical depression Friday after slamming into Nicaragua's coast the day before, forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate and flooding low-lying areas before pushing into neighboring Honduras.
The National Hurricane Center has forecast a near-normal Atlantic hurricane season for this year, with 12 to 16 named storms, six to nine hurricanes, and as many as five major hurricanes.
(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
