Despite the first named storm of the 2008 Atlantic Hurricane season coming one day before the official start to the season on June 1, the month of June was rather quiet. As July is nearing an end, four named storms make this season's list heading into this weekend.

Tropical Storm Arthur was named on May 31, one day before the official start to the hurricane season. With such an early storm, it seemed that the 2008 season would be off to a busy start. After the storm diminished across the Yucatan Peninsula the following couple of days, the tropics stayed quiet through the month of June.

July was a more active month, with the remaining three storms out of four being named. An initial advisory was given on Bertha on July 3. Not only did Bertha become the first hurricane of the 2008 season, the storm was the easternmost-forming July tropical storm on record. It also made the record books by becoming the longest-lived July tropical storm in history. The storm maintained tropical characteristics for 17 days before finally becoming extratropical. The storm brought gusty winds, heavy rain and very rough surf to the island of Bermuda, but was primarily over the open waters of the Atlantic during her life span.

Tropical Storm Cristobal formed off the Southeast coast July 19, but the storm did little other than bring some wind and rain to the coastal Carolinas. Most recently, Hurricane Dolly was the first hurricane to hit the United States mainland since Hurricane Humberto moved inland near the Texas-Louisiana border last September. Dolly was also the first hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland with Category 2 status or higher since the record-setting 2005 hurricane season.

Typical summer heat and humidity are returning to interior South Texas in Dolly's wake this weekend. A light breeze off the Gulf will keep temperatures a little lower along the southern Gulf coast of Texas with highs reaching into the 80s. However, the important aspect of the weather is that it will be dry to aid cleanup efforts of Dolly's destruction.

According to Foxnews.com, it will take some parts of the Rio Grande Valley up to six weeks to dry out from the knee- to waist-deep flood waters. President Bush has declared 15 counties in South Texas disaster areas, while insurance estimations report that losses over the area have totaled at least $750 million.

Story by AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Andy Mussoline and Meghan Evans

Strong and severe storms popped up across the northern edge of 90-degree heat in the Plains on Saturday. Places from eastern Montana through western Missouri had local doses of heavy downpours, winds greater than 60 mph and hail up to the size of baseballs. Many reports were made of toppled trees and power lines from the strong winds as very large hail damaged vehicles and crops. Downpours also caused local flash flooding with very high rainfall rates. Another region of the nation facing issues with flash flooding was in the Southwest. Dolly's moisture was soaked up into the monsoonal flow into extreme West Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. Rainfall amounts were upwards of 4 inches, including 4 miles west of El Paso, Texas. The normal July precipitation for El Paso is just under one and a half inches. Some of the moisture even snuck into the mountains of Southern California, allowing a few stray storms to fire. Much of the remainder of the West was dry, except for some very spotty showers in the Pacific Northwest. Meanwhile, more storms were sparked along a very slow-moving cold front pressing into the Ohio Valley and the interior Northeast. Some of these storms also became severe. Damaging storms in Ohio dropped hail as large as baseballs and caused wind damage. Storms in parts of Pennsylvania and upstate New York also had strong winds and hail. The I-95 corridor remained dry with very warm temperatures and some summer sunshine. The Southeast had typical heat and humidity as 100-degree heat spread toward the western Gulf states. Some locally drenching storms popped up in the South. A record rainfall of 2.77 inches was recorded in Mobile, Ala.

Severe Weather Threatens the Midwest: --Severe weather reports were made across parts of the Plains toward the Midwest on Saturday, especially across eastern Montana, South Dakota, Kansas and western Missouri. Heavy downpours dropped more than 3 inches of rain in some places and caused local flash flooding. Hail up to the size of baseballs and winds up to 80 mph developed in the strongest storms. The Midwest will be targeted again today. Areas from eastern Nebraska, Iowa, northern Missouri and northwestern Illinois will have some potent storms. Similar threats to Saturday's storms will be endured. Northern Missouri and southern Illinois will be monitored extra close for flash flooding after up to a foot of rain fell over these regions during the past week.