As the Northern Gulf Coast braces for Cindy, Florida is in the potential path of Tropical Storm Dennis. Most of the Florida peninsula appears in Dennis’ 5-day cone of uncertainty. Conditions could begin to deteriorate in south Florida by Friday. Forecasters say this is the earliest that four named storms have ever formed in the Atlantic hurricane season… at least since record keeping began in 1851. Meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center—Erik Blake—says now is the time to prepare.

“If you were a little lax and didn’t get your hurricane plan in place, now’s the time… basic hurricane supplies. It would be a good time to kind of stock up. You know, they’ll be good the whole year.”

Forecasters call Dennis’ satellite imagery “impressive…” and say it’s a large system… with 20 knot winds as far as 300 miles from the center.