Second Atlantic tropical storm of 2006 forms

MIAMI, July 19 (Reuters) The second tropical storm of what is expected to be a busy 2006 Atlantic hurricane season formed, prompting a tropical storm watch for the North Carolina coast.

The center of Tropical Storm Beryl was about 130 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras in North Carolina at 11 p.m.

(0300 GMT), and a storm watch was issued from north of Cape Lookout to south of Currituck Beach Light, the US National Hurricane Center said in a bulletin.

The weather system was moving toward the north at 7 miles per hour and its maximum sustained winds were at least 40 mph.

The storm was not expected to become a hurricane and was no threat to US oil and gas facilities in the Gulf of Mexico.

The first tropical storm of the season, Alberto, spluttered harmlessly ashore in the Florida Panhandle on June 13, bringing heavy rain, a sloshing storm surge but little damage and no deaths.

Alarm over Alberto had, however, been widespread following the destruction wrought during the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season by monster storms such as hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. Katrina, the costliest natural disaster in US history, devastated New Orleans and killed more than 1,300 people.

Last year's six-month hurricane season saw a record 28 tropical storms, 15 of which strengthened into hurricanes with winds of at least 74 mph.

Forecasters expect another busy June 1-Nov. 30 season this year, with up to 17 tropical storms.

Hurricane experts believe the Atlantic has moved into a decades-long period of naturally heightened hurricane activity.

But climatologists are increasingly finding evidence that global warming could be increasing the strength of storms, with serious implications for the energy and insurance industries, and for people living on the hundreds of miles of vulnerable US coastline.

REUTERS DKB HS1039