It looks likely, according to several sources, that the first Atlantic hurricane of the season will develop from a newly formed Tropical Storm Dean.

Dean has the makings of a classic Cape Verde storm, born off the west coast of Africa and then developing first into a tropical depression and now a storm over the last couple of days.

What is of concern is the track (see diagram). If Dean does develop into a hurricane – and we’ll know in the next few hours – he seems to have the central and northern Caribbean islands firmly in his sights. Prediction are that the storm will ‘only’ be a category 1 hurricane (74 – 95 mph) at this stage but of greater concern is that it might intensify further to a category 3 (111 – 130 mph) storm at which point it will be threatening the Cayman Islands, which were devastated by Ivan in 2004, Jamaica then Cuba.