(MSNBC) MIAMI —   As forecasters had predicted, this year’s hurricane season — expected to spawn at least nine major storms — is well under way. While Texans mopped up in the wake of Hurricane Brett, researchers at the National Hurricane Center were tracking three tropical storms churning in the Atlantic, one of which appeared headed for the East Coast.

TROPICAL STORM Dennis formed Tuesday in the western Atlantic and was on a track that could affect the East Coast this weekend, forecasters said. “This could be one of those that goes up the whole East Coast and threatens everybody on the way and makes us all button up,” said Jerry Jarrell, director of the hurricane center.
 
Dennis grew out of a tropical depression southeast of the Bahamas and north of Puerto Rico, becoming a named storm when its sustained wind speed topped 39 mph. At 2 a.m. local time Wednesday, Dennis was centered about 75 miles north of the Caicos islands. The government of the Bahamas issued a tropical storm warning for the Turks and Caicos Islands and for the southeastern Bahamas.
 
Dennis had winds blowing at a sustained 45 mph and was moving west-northwest at nearly 9 miles per hour.