2 Tropical Storms Form In 2 Days As Atlantic Lull Hits Abrupt End

Topline

Two named storms are now churning in the Atlantic Ocean after Tropical Storm Earl organized late Friday night, as activity ramps following a nearly two-month quiet stretch that left many forecasters baffled.

Key Facts

Earl was located just north of the Leeward Islands late Saturday morning, with maximum sustained winds of 40 mph.

Tropical Storm Danielle, which formed Thursday, has been drifting over a remote area of the central Atlantic, and packed maximum sustained winds of 70 mph Saturday morning.

Neither system is an imminent threat to land—Earl is expected to remain a tropical storm over the next five days as it moves out to sea, while Danielle will likely become a hurricane again before transitioning to an extratropical system by the middle of next week several hundred miles north of the Azores.

What To Watch For

September 10 is the historical peak of tropical activity in the Atlantic basin, though no other systems are expected to develop in the next five days..

Key Background

Seasonal outlooks called for the 2022 season to be among the most active in history, but those predictions have thus far not panned out. Danielle’s formation Thursday ended a streak of more than eight weeks without a named storm, dating back to when Tropical Storm Colin fizzled out on July 3. Last month was the first August without a named storm in the Atlantic basin since 1997, and the full stretch of inactivity between July 3 and the end of August marked the first time that period of the season went without a named storm since 1941, according to Colorado State University researcher Philip Klotzbach.

Further Reading

Hurricane Danielle Forms–The First In An Unusually Quiet Season (Forbes)

First Named Atlantic Tropical Storm Forms After Historic Two-Month Lull (Forbes)

Hurricane Activity Could Skyrocket In Coming Weeks After July Lull, Forecasters Say (Forbes)