While tropical storms Ana and Bill continue to advance on the islands of the Lesser Antilles, a new storm has formed out of the thunderstorms and convection in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, posing a more immediate threat to the U.S. mainland.

The latest concern for forecasters at the National Hurricane Center is Tropical Depression 4, which sports top sustained winds of 35 mph, with a track that would put it on the northwest coast of Florida later today.

Here is the Tallahassee radar loop.

Tropical storm warnings have been posted from the Alabama border to the Suwannee River. Communities there could see up to 3 to 5 inches of rain and a storm surge of 3 to 5 feet to the east of wherever the center of the storm makes landfall.

Here is the latest advisory on TD4 (which would become  Tropical Storm Claudette if winds tops 39 mph before landfall). Here is the forecast storm track. And here is the view from space.

UPDATE: TD-4 has become Tropical Storm Claudette, with top sustained winds of 50 mph. TS Ana has degraded to a tropical depression.

Meanwhile, Ana and Bill continue to steam west across the Atlantic.

Here is the latest advisory on Ana. Tropical Storm watches remain in effect as far west as the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Here is the forecast storm track.

Here is the latest advisory on Bill, with 45 mph winds, and the only storm of the bunch that is forecast to become a hurricane. Here is the forecast storm track.

And here is the view from orbit.