It took less than 48 hours for a cluster of thunderstorms to move off the coast of North Carolina, reach the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, then blossom into the season's third tropical storm. The National Hurricane Center began issuing advisories on Tropical Storm Claudette at 1 pm Monday, stating that satellite data strongly suggested the system had a well-defined center and was producing sustained winds up to 50 mph. Claudette is no threat to the US mainland and forecast to move steadily to the northeast at 15 mph, possibly affecting Nova Scotia as an extratropical cyclone by Wednesday.

[promote-tropics-storm]

Elsewhere in the tropics, no tropical cyclone formation is expected over the next five days.