Weather forecasters are keeping a watchful eye on a strengthening tropical storm moving its way across the Atlantic Ocean.

Last night, Tropical Storm Alberto was 2,550 nautical miles east southeast of Bermuda, or more than 200 miles southwest of the Cape Verde Islands.

Alberto has 50 knot winds with gusts of up to 60 knots and is travelling west at 15 knots, but is not a threat at this time.

To reach hurricane status, sustained winds must be at least 74 mph.

The longest range forecast of 72 hours puts Alberto 1,520 nautical miles southeast of Bermuda on Monday afternoon.

Alberto's formation coincided with hurricane forecaster William Gray's revision of his prediction for the 2000 season.

In his June forecast, the Colorado State University professor predicted 12 named storms, eight hurricanes and four major hurricanes, but data received since the official start of the season have convinced Prof. Gray there will be only 11 named storms, seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes.

He said cooler Atlantic Ocean surface water temperatures and a weakening La Nina are responsible for the declining threat.

The season still will be busier than the average of 9.3 named storms, 5.8 hurricanes and 2.2 major hurricanes.

The late onset of storms was not a factor in Prof. Gray's decision to revise his forecast.

"The fact that we haven't had an early season storm doesn't mean anything,'' Gray said. "There is no correlation between June and July storms and what may take place later in the season; in fact, there's some evidence for a slight negative correlation (i.e., the absence of early season storms is made up for by late-season activity.'' He said he expects the main season to occur more or less on schedule during the 60 days starting August 20.

"We thought we had verification that La Nina would continue relatively strong throughout the season, but it appears to be fading a little more rapidly than we expected,'' Gray said. "Under those circumstances, we're reducing our early June forecast numbers a little, although people should remember that there still is the possibility of this being a very active season, especially compared with the 1970-1994 period.'' Gray has warned that a decline in hurricanes from 1970 to 1994 has lulled southeastern coastal dwellers into a false sense of security, particularly with the population boom in the region.