The unusual lull in Atlantic tropical activity during the climatological peak of hurricane season is at an end. The seventh tropical depression of the Atlantic hurricane season has strengthened into Tropical Storm Gabrielle and may become a hurricane in the coming days. Direct impacts are possible in Bermuda, while indirect impacts—such as rough surf or rip currents—may affect parts of the northeastern Caribbean and the United States.

For a while on Tuesday, folks in the Pacific Northwest were  getting a little nervous. A plume of volcanic ash over Mount St. Helens gave folks the impression that the volcano might be erupting again. But luckily, this was not an eruption — just a wind-whipped encore decades in the making.

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