Four named storms in the Atlantic/Gulf

While "Long, Tall Sally" seems determined to make things hard for the Big Easy over the next day of so, there are three more named storms in the Atlantic.

Paulette is 65 miles from the island of Bermuda as a Category 2 hurricane packing 98 mph winds and 121 mph gusts. Her north/northeast path will take her toward the North Atlantic after she passes Bermuda. Paulette is expected to become a Category 3 hurricane Tuesday and remain at hurricane strength until Friday. She will pose a threat to shipping but does not appear will impact any other inhabited areas.

Two storms earned their names Monday morning. Teddy and Vicky are still far away between the coasts of Africa and South America. Neither is expected to enter the Gulf nor pose any threat to the Atlantic or Caribbean islands. Teddy is forecast to become a Category 1 hurricane Tuesday, a Cat 2 on Wednesday and a Cat 3 storm on Wednesday. His current projected path is well east of Bermuda. He will retain Category 2 strength at least until next Monday (Sept. 21) when it would be due east of Bermuda.

Vicky is not expected to last long or strengthen. She is currently a tropical storm with 46 mph winds moving northwest at 7 mph.

Rene is no longer a tropical storm, just a tropical depression, but this still creates a rate four-storm occurrence in the Atlantic hurricane season. The last time it occurred was not that long ago -- Sept. 12-14, 2018, with Florence, Helene, Isaac and Joyce still active.

After today, the only name left on the list of 21 that started the hurricane season is Wilfred. After that, the storms will be identified by letters of the Greek alphabet.