First tropical weather bulletin of the 2011 hurricane season is issued

© National Hurricane Center/Miami

And here we go. Here's the first special tropical weather outlook from the National Hurricane Center in Miami, for the north Atlantic, Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.

It's an unusually early forecast of the potential formation of a tropical weather system about 460 miles northeast of Puerto Rico.

According to a "special tropical weather outlook" issued Wednesday afternoon, the low pressure system has developed shower and thunderstorm activity near its center and satellite data and ship reports indicate gale-force winds north of the center.

Slow development of the system is possible during the next few days as it moves west northwest at about 10 mph.

Forecasters say there is a low chance, about 20 percent, of the system developing into a subtropical or tropical cyclone before conditions become less favorable in about 48 hours.

It is unusual to have a subtropical or tropical cyclone form this early in the year. The Atlantic hurricane season begins on June 1.