Tropical storm, a depression and two blobs are forming.

While Hurricane Dorian finally starts to inch away from the Bahamas, with the forecast so far calling for a close shave up Florida’s east coast, the tropics are brimming with action including the formation on Tuesday afternoon of Tropical Storm Fernand in the Gulf of Mexico as well as Tropical Depression Eight in the far Atlantic Ocean.

Fernand is close to the Texas-Mexico border and is expected to come ashore in northeastern Mexico on Wednesday night as a tropical storm, according to a 7 p.m. Tuesday advisory from the National Hurricane Center.

Meanwhile there are three other cyclones churning in the Atlantic hurricane factory. One of those became the 2019 hurricane season’s latest cyclone, Tropical Depression Eight, on Tuesday afternoon.

Eight, with peak winds measuring 35 mph, is expected to become a tropical storm within hours. If and when it does — tropical storms are characterized by top wind speeds of at least 39 mph — it would be called Gabrielle.

And although Eight is a few thousand miles away from Florida, it’s forming in the typical area that storms tend to materialize in at this time of year. So far Eight’s projected path has it turning northwest into the open ocean.

These storms, called Cape Verde storms because they take shape off the Cape Verde islands off Africa, are known for churning westward across the ocean toward the United States.

There was also a tropical disturbance well out in the Atlantic near Bermuda that had a 50% chance of becoming a cyclone — either a tropical depression, tropical storm or hurricane.

Finally there was another disturbance rolling off the coast of Africa that had a 70% chance becoming at least a tropical depression.

The flurry of activity is proving to be a nervewracking reminder that we are in the peak of the hurricane season.