© Weather ChannelProjected Path
The red-shaded area denotes the potential path of the center of the system. It's important to note that impacts (particularly heavy rain, high surf, coastal flooding, winds) with any system usually spread beyond its forecast path.
Just how rare would a May hurricane be? The last time one formed in the Atlantic basin the Beatles and the Jackson 5 topped the charts and gas cost 36 cents a gallon.
While it's still way too early to tell if Alberto will gain enough steam as it crosses the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend, there's a chance the storm could become the earliest land-falling hurricane on record.
Forecasts now call for top winds of 65 mph, 9 mph below the threshold for a Cat 1 hurricane, by Monday when it's near the north Gulf Coast. But shear is expected to drop, with some models opening a window just big enough for a more intense system to develop.
"This thing could become a hurricane," said AccuWeather senior meteorologist Dan Kottlowski, "and people should think about that possibility as it approaches the northern Gulf Coast."
If it does, Alberto would be the first since Alma appeared north of Panama in 1970 and briefly threatened the Caribbean for two days before fizzling south of Cuba.
Comment: Deadly Cyclone Mekunu lashes Oman, Yemen with flooding and high winds