Tropical Storm Gert - the seventh named storm of the 2011 Atlantic season - was still churning up the Atlantic well east of the Delmarva Peninsula on Tuesday. But the storm was moving briskly off to the northeast at 30 mph, and was losing strength.

Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center expect it will lose the rest of its tropical characteristics within 24 hours as it encounters cooler waters and begins to interact with a cold front.

Top sustained winds were estimated at 40 mph, a minimal tropical storm. There are no surf advisories or rip tide warnings at the beaches, so Gert appears to be too weak and too far away to be stirring things up for swimmers. 

Curious that none of the seven named storms so far have reached hurricane strength. Seven is quite a lot for this time of year, but we seem really overdue for a hurricane. And the storms we have seen are veering away from the U.S. mainland - maybe due to the big, persistent dome of high pressure that has kept the South so hot this summer.

Here is the latest advisory for Gert. Here is the forecast discussion. And here is the track forecast map.

Meanwhile, forecasters are watching another cluster of storms in the eastern Caribbean. It's given only a 20 percent chance of becoming a tropical storm in the next 48 hours.