Two days, three tropical storms: so much for the tranquil two-and-half month start to hurricane season 2009.

Tropical Storm Claudette whipped up Sunday as the wave that drenched South Florida the previous day rapidly juiced up in warm Gulf of Mexico waters. At 5 p.m., the National Hurricane Center put Claudette about 40 miles off Apalachicola, bound for the Panhandle with 50 mph winds and heavy rains around nightfall.

Ana and Bill, meanwhile, were following similar tracks across the Atlantic Ocean but with dissimilar results.

The center downgraded Ana to a depression as the system, barreling west at 23 mph, wheezed and weakened as it sucked in dry air in its path. Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the string of northern Leeward Islands remained under a tropical storm watch for Ana, which was expected to breeze past sometime Monday with 35 mph winds.

While forecasters said Ana could reach storm strength again, its projected path takes it across the strength-sapping mountains of Hispaniola and Cuba.

The center forecast Ana weakening into a depression as it crosses southeastern Cuba on Wednesday before emerging at other the island's other end into the Gulf. Forecasters also shifted Ana's track slightly south, though the Florida Keys and South Florida remained in the five-day "cone of uncertainty."

Tropical Storm Bill, on the other hand, appeared on the way to becoming an impressive specimen of a major hurricane as early as Monday -- but one that computer models suggested could potentially curve away from the coastal mainland.

Long range forecasts often change and, with the storm still more than 2,000 miles from Miami, Bill will bear close watching in the coming week. But in the 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. advisories, the center shifted Bill well to the north, with the eye now projected to veer more northwest. If that path holds, it would skirt the Leewards on Thursday and track more toward Bermuda - well off the Florida peninsula.

Unlike Ana, the conditions appear perfect for Bill to beef up. As hurricane special Eric Blake put it in one advisory, "Bill is displaying a beautiful curved band pattern on satellite imagery with a new burst of convection."

With warm water and little wind shear ahead, forecasters expected Bill to become the season's first hurricane within 12 to 24 hours. By Wednesday, there is a good chance it could the season's first major hurricane, with winds above 111 mph.

For Florida, the most immediate concern was Claudette -- but emergency managers were not expecting widespread flooding or wind damage. The National Weather Service was estimating from three to five inches of rain, with local flooding in some areas that could get as much as 10.

The center posted tropical storm from the Suwanee River west to the Florida-Alabama line.

In Pensacola, the approaching storm - nothing near the power of Ivan, which hammered the Panhandle in 2004 -- drew surfers to the beach and didn't seem to scare off many tourists - at least until rain bands began arriving in the afternoon.

"This event is a good example of how quickly a tropical storm can develop. We won't always have a lot of warning," John Dosh, emergency manager for Escambia County, told The Associated Press. "This is why citizens need to be prepared throughout hurricane season."