Chris once again a tropical storm

Tropical Storm Chris became a hurricane Thursday morning, with sustained winds of 75 mph.  By late afternoon it lost some of its punch and was downgraded to a tropical storm.

The good news is that Chris is not near any land.

Chris is interesting for several reasons… 

For one thing, this storm is over water that is relatively cool (around 72 degrees) compared to what is considered normal for tropical cyclone development (80 degrees or warmer).

The reason the water is so cool is because this storm is so far north in the Atlantic, which is yet another interesting thing about Chris.

It is also pretty unusual to have three named storms develop so early in the season -- in fact, this has only happened two other times since the mid 1800s when official record keeping began.

This however, is no reason to panic. Even though we have seen three named storms early in the season, it doesn’t mean a really active season is on the way.

Our advice is always to take it one storm at a time.