Date: 16-Aug-09
Country: US
Author: Pascal Fletcher
 

MIAMI - Tropical Storms Ana and Bill, the first named storms of the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season, were racing westward with gale force winds, and Bill was expected to develop into a hurricane in the next few days, the National Hurricane Center said.

Ana, whose maximum sustained winds were near 40 miles per hour, sometimes gusting higher, was bearing down on the Leeward Islands and was expected to be over them on Monday. But the Miami-based NHC said this storm was not expected to turn into a hurricane in the next five days.

At 11 p.m. EDT, the center of Ana was located about 710 miles east-southeast of the Leeward Islands, and the NHC said it was "racing westward with no signs of strengthening".

Bill, also packing winds near 40 miles per hour was located about 905 miles west-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands.

"Bill is forecast to become a hurricane in a couple of days and become even stronger thereafter," the NHC said, and its five-day forecast track showed it could threaten Puerto Rico and eventually the Bahamas.

With the onset of Ana, the government of the Netherland Antilles issued a tropical storm watch for St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius, and the Leeward Islands and British and U.S. Virgin Islands also issued similar warnings.

The 2009 hurricane season, which runs from June through November, has gotten off to a late start. By this time last year, there had already been five named storms in the Atlantic basin.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted this year's Atlantic hurricane season will see normal to below-normal activity, with seven to 11 tropical storms and three to six hurricanes.

Energy traders watch for storms that could enter the Gulf of Mexico and threaten U.S. oil and natural gas platforms and refineries along the coast. Commodities traders watch storms that could hit crops such as citrus and cotton in Florida and other states along the coast to Texas.