Tropical Storm Melissa whirls in Atlantic

MIAMI (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Melissa formed in the Atlantic Ocean west of the Cape Verde Islands on Saturday but was expected to fizzle in a few days without threatening land, forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

At 5 a.m. EDT, the 13th named storm of the year in the Atlantic basin was about 260 miles (420 km) west-southwest of Cape Verde and had top winds of 40 mph (65 kph). It was moving westward at 3 mph (6 kph) on a course that would keep it well out to sea.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic, Tropical Storm Karen maintained top winds speed of 40 mph (65 kph) in the open sea east of the Windward Islands, but forecasters said it could weaken to a tropical depression in the next 24 hours.

The 2007 Atlantic storm season, which runs through Nov. 30, has already seen four hurricanes, including Lorenzo, which crashed into Mexico's Gulf coast on Friday and killed three people.