Forecasters predicted a busy season in the tropical Atlantic this year, and they were right. But neither of the current hot spots seems to pose a threat to the U.S. mainland.

We've reached the letter "P" now, with Tropical Storm Phillipe spinning in the eastern Atlantic, about 680 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands. The storm has developed top sustained winds of 60 mph, and it's moving northwest at 12 mph. On that course the storm will not become any sort of threat to the Americas. 

The other disturbance hurricane forecasters are watching is an area of showers and thunderstorms a few hundred miles east of the Northern Leeward Islands. It's actually what's left of Tropical Storm Ophelia, which developed last week and faded over the weekend. Strong wind shear is preventing more development, forecasters say. The system is moving west-northwest at 5 to 10 mph, with just a 20 percent chance of regaining tropical storm strength in the next two days.

Curiously, on the other side of the continent, the remnants of Typhoon Roke, which was born in the western Pacific, pounded Japan last week and later crossed the International Date Line, is now battering the Northwest Coast of Canada and the United States.

The fierce autumn storm is bringing high winds - gusts to 105 mph - and as much as 8 inches of rain to the Vancouver and Queen Charlotte Islands of British Columbia. Gales are also blowing on the coast of southern Alaska, Washington and Oregon.