Tropical storm Alberto formed off the South Carolina coast

Tropical Storm Alberto, the first named storm of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, formed on Saturday, May 19, 2012 off the coast of South Carolina.

Alberto has the potential to hit North Carolina as early as Monday, but since the storm is so small, it would only affect a small area of the coast with high winds and heavy rain.

Upper level winds out of the southwest are creating a moderate 15 - 20 knots of wind shear over Alberto, and the storm is over the warm waters of Gulf Stream, which are 27°C (81°F), just above the 26°C threshold usually needed to sustain a tropical storm.

The system is tangled up with an upper level trough of low pressure, which is pumping cold, dry air into the storm, slowing development.

True color satellite photo of Alberto taken at 1:50 pm EDT Saturday May 19, 2012. Image credit: NASA.

The first Pacific Ocean tropical storm of the year formed southwest of Mexico last Monday and was named Aletta, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said.

This year marks the first time in recorded history that a tropical storm has formed in both the east Pacific basin and Atlantic basin before the official start of hurricane season.