The season’s first honest-to-goodness Cape Verde storm, Hurricane Fabian, has formed in the tropical Atlantic, and has already strengthened to a Category 2 with 100 mile-per-hour winds. The forecast brings it up to at least Category 3 strength within a day or two. Meanwhile, a tropical depression has formed in the Gulf of Mexico and could mean trouble — again — for the Texas coast. Here’s a satellite photo of the scene in the tropics:

In other news, while checking yesterday evening whether it was too cloudy in New York for the South Street Seaport Mars viewing, I came across a really cool visible satellite image showing thunderheads illuminated by the setting sun:

UPDATE: Tropical Depression Eleven was just upgraded to Tropical Storm Grace. Get ready for the “Amazing Grace” headlines.