The season's eighth named storm of the season formed overnight in the far eastern Atlantic. Tropical Storm Humberto (pronounced "oom-BAIR-toh") formed quickly from a strong tropical wave that moved off the west coast of Africa on Sunday.
The storm is forecast to steadily strengthen through mid-week and possibly become the first hurricane of the 2013 Atlantic Hurricane Season on Wednesday. If this doesn't occur by then, it would be the latest date in a season a hurricane has ever been recorded in the Atlantic Basin since the beginning of the satellite era. The current record was set was set on September 11, 2002 when Hurricane Gustav formed off the coast of North Carolina and parrelled the East Coast on its way back out to sea.
Humberto was experiencing some moderate wind shear from the northeast overnight, which pushed most of the thunderstorm activity west of the storm's center. This is forecast to relax some on Monday, thereby allowing the storm to strengthen quickly as it moves over warm waters south of the Cape Verde Islands.
The National Hurricane Center is forecasting Humberto to reach hurricane strength by Wednesday (oddly enough, the 11th of September). A weakness in the ridge of high pressure to Humberto's north is likely to allow the storm to make a rather sharp northward turn starting tomorrow, so the possible hurricane poses no threat to the United States of Florida.
