The National Weather Service has issued a special tropical weather outlook for a non-tropical low pressure system about half-way between Bermuda and the Bahama Islands that has a medium chance -- 30 percent -- of becoming a subtropical or tropical storm during the next two days.
The system is producing a large area of disorganized showers and thunderstorms and gale-force winds over a large portion of the southwestern Atlantic Ocean about 500 miles south-southwest of Bermuda, and a variety of computer models indicates it will slowly move to the north-northwest over the next few days toward the U.S. coastline.
Several of the computer models used by center forecasters indicate this evening that the storm could approach the Outer Banks area of North Carolina's coast in about two days before dissipating and speeding east.
A subtropical storm contains some characteristics of a tropical system, but often does not contain the warmer core and has thunderstorms spread over a broader area.
If it reaches tropical storm strength, 39 mph, this first system of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season would be named Alex. The season officially begins on June 1.