The Atlantic hurricane season may be off to an early start. The National Hurricane Center indicates that there is a 40% chance of tropical development in the eastern Gulf of Mexico in the next five days. If it happens, the first named storm of the year, Alberto, could bring more rain to the southeast. More likely, the area of disturbed weather will not organize into a storm but will still bring copious moisture to the area. Good news for farmers in the drier areas who have been waiting for rain to wet their fields, but not such good news for people trying to dry hay, harvest small grains and do other field work that requires dry conditions. We may not return to dry weather until the end of May.