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Meteorologists at the YTMND weather center have posted a new projected track for Hurricane Dean. It is predicted to take an unlikely turn in the near future. Here's a link to a really nice animated graphic showing the new plot, but I can't figure out how to post it directly. http://hurricanedeanpath.ytmnd.com/

CASTRIES, St. Lucia (AP) - A strengthening Hurricane Dean tore through the eastern Caribbean islands of St. Lucia and Martinique on Friday, ripping the roofs from a hospital and homes, knocking out power, and flooding roads with rain and seawater. A 62-year-old man drowned, in the storm's first death. The first hurricane of the Atlantic season, which grew into a Category 3 on Friday with 125 mph winds, is expected to strengthen over the warm waters of the Caribbean, hit Jamaica on Sunday and climb to Category 4 status before clipping Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. It was projected to steer into...

Hurricane warnings have been issued for Dominica and St. Lucia as Hurricane Dean races westward into the Caribbean Sea at 24mph. This motion should bring the center of Dean near the Lesser Antilles on Friday. The increased forward speed of the storm has lessened preparation time for Caribbean Islands in its path. Hurricane Dean has favorable conditions to develop into a major hurricane over the next several days. Public Advisories Updated every three hours. Tropical Storm Discussion Updated every six hours Three Day Tracking MapStorm Track Archive Nice animated progression of 5 day forecast tracks Buoy Data East Caribbean Buoy...

It has been less than a day since Tropical Storm Dean has developed into a hurricane and already global warming is being mentioned in a news story about this weather development. Credit for the first known citing of global warming in a Hurricane Dean story goes to The Daily Green. Correspondent Chris Mooney starts out by giving his story, Nothing But Land to Stop Hurricane Dean … or Supertyphoon Sepat, an authentic all caps touch with  this weather advisory from the National Hurricane Center: BASED ON WHAT WE THINK WE KNOW ABOUT INTENSITY CHANGE … THERE DO NOT SEEM TO BE TOO MANY INHIBITING...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hurricane Dean, which could strengthen into a Category 4 hurricane over the next few days, will likely cross the islands of the eastern Caribbean on Friday and could threaten the Gulf of Mexico next week. Meanwhile, Tropical Depression Erin produced heavy rains over portions of Texas as it weakened after moving inland over the south Texas coast this morning. The energy market is watching the weather models to see if Dean will enter the Gulf of Mexico and where it could disrupt the region's oil and natural gas facilities, which account for roughly a third of...

Dean continues to organize this afternoon. Although the cloud tops have warmed recently...the last few visible satellite pictures indicate a tightly curved band wrapping around the center. AMSU and trmm microwave images have also suggested the formation of a partial eyewall. Most objective and subjective Dvorak intensity estimates are increasing...and the current intensity is raised to 55 kt. The initial motion has shifted more to the west-northwest in the past six hours...around 285/19. This movement toward the west-northwest is expected to be brief as deep-layered ridging to the north of Dean strengthens overnight...forcing the storm on more of a westward...

This chart will automatically update periodically.

000 WTNT34 KNHC 141433 TCPAT4 BULLETIN TROPICAL STORM DEAN ADVISORY NUMBER 5 NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL042007 1100 AM AST TUE AUG 14 2007 ...DEAN FORMS IN THE DEEP TROPICS...MIDWAY BETWEEN AFRICA AND THE LESSER ANTILLES... INTERESTS IN THE LESSER ANTILLES SHOULD MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF DEAN. AT 1100 AM AST...1500Z...THE CENTER OF TROPICAL STORM DEAN WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 11.7 NORTH...LONGITUDE 39.4 WEST OR ABOUT 1030 MILES...1660 KM...WEST OF THE SOUTHERNMOST CAPE VERDE ISLANDS AND ABOUT 1490 MILES...2400 KM...EAST OF THE LESSER ANTILLES. DEAN IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST NEAR 23 MPH...37 KM/HR...AND THIS MOTION IS EXPECTED...

We’re still waiting for the official word from the National Hurricane Center, but the tropical meteorology folks in the U.S. Navy have already made their call: Tropical Depression 4 is now Tropical Storm Dean. Its ultimate path is still unclear, and it might not become much clearer until the hurricane hunter planes take a look — at the moment, that’s apparently scheduled for Thursday. But given the neighborhood it’s tracking through and its potential to grow, it’s a good idea for anyone from Florida to the Carolinas to keep an eye on it.