CRISTOBAL

This front started off by dropping inches of snow in the Pacific Northwest and the Rockies. Heat advisories were in place for east Texas Tuesday and are in place Wednesday for parts of upstate New York and Philly. Heat advisories in the northeastIn between anomalous cold and anomalous heat, theres usually some very volatile weather. A rare Level 4 risk of severe weather is in place for parts of northeast Indiana, northwest Ohio and east Michigan. Wednesday's severe weather threatFor us, the weather will be fairly typical of mid-June.

By Tuesday afternoon, forecasters determined that the system had strengthened into a tropical storm, giving it the name Cristobal. This is the earliest weve used three names on the Atlantic hurricane season list, beating out 2016 when Colin formed on June 5. The current record for earliest 3rd Atlantic named storm formation date is on June 5, 2016 (Colin). Tropical steering currents Tuesday 8 a.m. (ECMWF model) (WSLS)There are no other areas of interest to track right now in the tropics. The next storm that forms in the Atlantic basin will receive the name Dolly.

BAY OF CAMPECHE Despite two preseason tropical storms (Arthur and Bertha), Atlantic hurricane season did not officially begin until Monday. Its a busy first day of the season for forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami as they have begun issuing advisories on Tropical Depression 3. Tropical Depression 3 information (WSLS)The disturbance was once known as Tropical Storm Amanda and was being tracked as part of the Eastern Pacific hurricane basin. Tropical Depression 3 forecast track (WSLS)This hurricane season is likely to be an active one. Forecasters at Colorado State University, NC State University and NOAA are all predicting above-normal numbers of named storms, hurricanes and major hurricanes.