Hurricane Season 2014 underway: Arthur in sight?

The National Hurricane Center's new Twitter feed will get some action in the coming weeks.

The Atlantic hurricane season is underway. There are some indications things could get active in the next week to 10 days in the Gulf of Mexico. For now, a disturbance southeast of Huatulco, Mexico, is gaining steam in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

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NOAA

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration gives the system a high chance of tropical storm formation.

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1. Showers and thunderstorms associated with a low pressure area

located about 275 miles south-southeast of Salina Cruz, Mexico, have

become a little better organized overnight and early this morning.

Environmental conditions appear conducive for additional development

and a tropical cyclone could form later today or Tuesday while the

low moves slowly northwestward to northward. Regardless of tropical

cyclone formation, this system is expected to produce locally heavy

rains across portions of western Central America and southeastern

Mexico this week. These rains could cause life-threatening flash

floods and mud slides in areas of mountainous terrain.

* Formation chance through 48 hours...high...80 percent

* Formation chance through 5 days...high...90 percent

Forecaster Brown

There are some indications that low pressure in the Gulf of Mexico could intensify in about a week and approach Florida. here's the Global Forecast System take on that by June 9.

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NOAA

It's way too early to credibly say this system will develop, but some of the recent GFS runs show the even scarier GFS solution with a strengthening storm barreling up the East Coast to near Long Island by June 11.

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NOAA

Again, it's early -- but stay tuned.

Here's a good read on tracking the upcoming season from Climate Central.

The 2014 Atlantic hurricane season officially kicks off on Sunday, June 1, and runs through November 30. There are countless resources to keep track of tropical storms and hurricanes as they form and plow across the ocean, but here are five great ones that will help not only track individual storms but get a sense of how the season is progressing and put it in an historical context.

Earl hurr
Satellite animation of Hurricane Earl, which formed in August 2010. Credit: CIMSS