Tropical Storm Colin made landfall late Monday dousing much of Florida with heavy rains, and is now heading off the Carolina coastline, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The National Hurricane Center downgraded Colin to a post-tropical cyclone at 11 a.m. Tuesday.
As of 2 p.m. Tuesday, the storm was located about 45 miles east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and was moving northeast at 38 mph.
Track T.S. Colin with the News 3 First Warning Storm Team | Hurricane Resources | Interactive Radar | Closings & Delays
Maximum sustained winds are approximately 60 mph with higher gusts.
Colin will continue moving northeast very quickly into the open Atlantic Ocean. Wind and wave action will increase Tuesday evening as Colin moves off of the coast.
Colin is the third tropical storm to form this year in the Atlantic. It's the earliest that three named storms have hit the region, besting the previous record -- which was set in 1887 -- by about a week.
Hurricane season officially began June 1. But tropical systems can form during any month of the year.
This year, two named storms formed before the season's official start.
Alex became a named storm on January 13, the first Atlantic hurricane to form in the month of January since 1938. Bonnie drenched South Carolina's coast last month.
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