MIAMI Josephine just barely held on to its tropical storm status early Friday as it moved over the Atlantic Ocean as the earliest J-named storm in a record-setting hurricane season. Tropical storms have maximum sustained winds between 39 and 73 mph (63 and 117 kph). Josephine was the earliest tenth Atlantic named storm on record, breaking the previous record of Jose, which formed Aug. 22, 2005, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach. So far this year, Cristobal, Danielle, Edouard, Fay, Gonzalo, Hanna and Isaias have also set records for being the earliest named Atlantic storms of their respective place in the alphabet. Last month, Hurricane Hanna slammed the Texas Gulf Coast with high winds and rains that flooded streets and knocked out power across the region.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. At 11 a.m, the center of Tropical Storm Josephine was located near latitude 13.7 North, longitude 49.2 West, or about 975 miles east-southeast of the Northern Leeward Islands. Josephine is the earliest tenth tropical storm of record in the Atlantic, with the next earliest tenth storm being Tropical Storm Jose on August 22, 2005. A just-received satellite image showed an area of 35-40 kt winds about 70 nautical miles north of the center of Tropical Depression Eleven, and based on this the cyclone was upgraded to Tropical Storm Josephine with an initial intensity of 40 kt. Some additional strengthening appears likely during the next 24-36 h as Josephine moves through an environment of light vertical wind shear. After 72 h, it shows weakening similar to the previous forecast, but not as drastic as the global models that show the storm degenerating to a tropical wave before 120 h.Josephine is the earliest tenth tropical storm of record in the Atlantic, with the next earliest tenth storm being Tropical Storm Jose on August 22, 2005.