The National Hurricane Center began keeping records in 1851 and in the 165 years since, only four such storms formed in January. It will pick up speed over the Azores, which is home to 250,000 people, on Friday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center.
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A Hurricane Warning is in effect for the Azores, and the NHC expects the storm to move near the group of islands on Friday.
The Atlantic hurricane season officially runs from June 1 to November 30, but that doesn’t mean tropical systems don’t pop up at other times, although it is infrequent.
No hurricane has formed in January since an unnamed storm in 1938.
A subtropical storm is one that exhibits a combination of tropical and non-tropical characteristics.
Simply put, a subtropical storm is basically a combination of them both.
What is particularly interesting about Hurricane Alex is that it has managed to form over ocean waters that are just 20C.
The storm continues to strengthen.
The storm should dump between 3 and 5 inches of rain on the islands, with 7 inches possible in isolated locales. According to KTAB/KRBC meteorologists, the storm formed over waters that are 2-4°F warmer than average yesterday, and has been quickly gaining strength.
Pali, in the central Pacific, is the the earliest hurricane ever recorded over the Central Pacific Basin in a calendar year, forming 19 days earlier than the previous record holder, Hurricane Ekeka of 1992. Post-season and pre-season tropical systems are usually relatively weak, in part due to cooler sea-surface temperatures in the winter and spring months, limiting the ability for such storms to intensify.
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“Several incoming flights were forced to turn back as gusts neared 60 miles per hour, and the Bermuda Government had to issue an advisory assuring residents that the Causeway would remain open”.
