Ana, forming in the Atlantic, becomes 1st named storm of hurricane season
Subtropical storm Ana, which formed in the Atlantic Saturday morning, is the first named storm of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season.
For the seventh year in a row, there has been a named storm formed prior to the official start of hurricane season -- June 1.
Big waves are headed to the Northeast this weekend. A tropical disturbance could bring more flooding rain to parts of Texas also this weekend.
The storm currently has winds of 45 mph and is located around 200 miles northeast of Bermuda. Ana is moving WSW at 3 mph. A tropical storm watch is in effect for Bermuda.
Ana does not pose a significant threat. The storm will bring some gusty winds to Bermuda this weekend, but ultimately Ana is expected to head further out to sea.
One impact of the storm will be significant ocean swell. Waves could reach over 5 feet on parts of the northeast coast line -- which may attract surfers to the waves there this weekend.
There is another disturbance off the coast of Texas, that has a tropical connection. This disturbance is already bringing tropical downpours to parts of Texas Saturday morning, where rainfall rates could reach 2 inches per hour. Throughout this weekend, tropical downpours in Texas could bring locally over 3 inches of rain which could cause flash flooding.
Parts of the Gulf Coast in Texas and Louisiana have had a rough week in terms of rainfall. Parts of Louisiana, especially near Lake Charles, have seen over 20 inches of rain this week and parts of Texas have seen over 18 inches of rain. Louisiana is looking much drier the next few days, but some of the tropical rainfall showers could hit areas in Texas that have already seen excessive rainfall this week.
Coastal flood alerts have also been issued for parts of Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
Elsewhere across the country, severe weather will move into the high plains this weekend. Saturday’s severe weather threat is from extreme southwest Texas all the way to Wyoming.This part of the high plains tends to produce quite visual storms. Damaging winds, large hail will be possible as well as Isolated tornadoes.
On Sunday, this severe threat moves a little further north and east into parts of Nebraska to North Dakota, bringing damaging winds, large hail and isolated tornado.
In other weather news this weekend: parts of the Northeast will see temperatures more typical of July than May. And parts of the Southwest and Florida will see dry and gusty conditions which could be conducive for fires.
