PHILIPPE ON THE HORIZON?

Not yet a tropical storm, much less a hurricane, a low-pressure system still 170 miles east-northeast of the Turks and Caicos Islands is already raising warning flags for south Florida. The National Hurricane Center on Saturday issued an interesting "special weather statement" about the storm:

THE SURFACE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM ... HAS CONTINUED TO BECOME BETTER ORGANIZED TODAY AS IT MOVES WEST-NORTHWESTWARD AT 10 MPH. THIS SYSTEM IS FORECAST TO AFFECT SOUTH FLORIDA MONDAY AND TUESDAY AND THERE IS A CHANCE THAT IT COULD DEVELOP INTO A TROPICAL DEPRESSION OR EVEN TROPICAL STORM BEFORE THEN. INTERESTS ACROSS SOUTH FLORIDA SHOULD CLOSELY MONITOR STATEMENTS ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER AND THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN MIAMI IN CASE THIS SYSTEM DEVELOPS.

If the storm grows it will be Philippe, a soft, non-threatening name. So was Katrina.