New tropical storm builds off US

MIAMI - The sixth tropical depression of the 2006 Atlantic storm season formed on Sunday between Africa and the Lesser Antilles and was expected to gain hurricane strength as it moved westward toward the United States.

Long-range computer tracking models projected the swirling mass of thunderstorms could end up north of the Caribbean islands, reaching hurricane status by Thursday, the US National Hurricane Center said.

The weather system was too far away to predict with accuracy whether it could threaten key US oil and gas facilities in the Gulf of Mexico or the US East Coast.

If its winds reach 63kmh, it would be called Tropical Storm Florence. Tropical storms become hurricanes when their maximum sustained winds hit 119kmh.

The depression was 2455km east of the northern Leeward Islands by 9am (NTZ) yesterday, the hurricane centre said. It was moving northwest at 23kmh.

The six-month hurricane season, which began on June 1, has only seen one hurricane so far - and that one only briefly.

Ernesto reached hurricane strength near Haiti a week ago and then made landfall twice in the United States as a tropical storm, first in Florida, where it was barely noticeable and then on the mid-Atlantic coast, where it poured torrential rain on several states.

The 2005 season broke all records with 28 tropical storms, of which 15 became hurricanes, including Hurricane Katrina. Katrina devastated New Orleans just over a year ago, killing 1500 people along the US Gulf Coast and causing $US80 billion ($123.78 billion) in damages.

Hurricane forecasters originally predicted the 2006 hurricane season would be busier than average.

Many have since cut their predictions, citing large amounts of west African dust over the Atlantic and early signs of an El Nino in the Pacific. The El Nino weather phenomenon leads to an unusual warming of Pacific waters but curtails hurricane formation in the Atlantic.

- REUTERS