Hebert Box provides forecasters glimpse into potential hurricane.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

MIAMI _ It's the heart of the hurricane season _ Tropical Storm Dean suddenly spun to life Wednesday in the Atlantic Ocean _ and here's a tip for the faint of heart:

If you want an early and generally reliable indication of whether a storm in the Atlantic is destined to bang on your front door as a major hurricane, keep an eye on the Hebert Box.

Discovered by a veteran local meteorologist, the Hebert Box is a square, relatively small section of ocean touched by almost every Atlantic storm since 1900 that has struck South Florida as an intense hurricane.

If a Category Three, Four or Five storm, born in the Atlantic, misses the region bordered by latitudes 15 and 20 degrees north and longitudes 60 and 65 degrees west, it virtually always misses South Florida.

If one of those storms _ with winds higher than 110 mph _ touches that region . . .

``Really, really pay attention,'' …