Hurricane Danielle Forms–The First In An Unusually Quiet Season

Topline

Tropical Storm Danielle intensified into a hurricane on Friday—the first hurricane in the Atlantic in a historically quiet start of the storm season that experts had warned could be a particularly rough one.

Key Facts

Hurricane Danielle is on a westward path nearly 900 miles west of the Azores, drifting at a speed of 1 mph.

Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Hurricane Center expect it to turn northeast in the coming days, posing no threat to land as it splits North America and Europe down the middle, avoiding any islands.

The storm was upgraded from a tropical depression to a tropical storm on Thursday, with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph, making it the first named storm since Tropical Storm Colin, which formed and quickly fizzled out off North Carolina on July 2.

What To Watch For

The National Hurricane Center is also monitoring two other disturbances in the Atlantic, including one east of the Caribbean’s Leeward Islands that has a 50% chance of developing into a cyclone over the next two days, and a 70% chance in the next five days.

Key Background

Forecasters had expected the fall storm season to be one of the worst on record, but so far that prediction has not come true. In April, meteorologists at Colorado State University warned there could be up to 19 named storms and four major hurricanes this year, making it one of the most active storm seasons in history. Even though the peak of the storm season is still two weeks away, the number of storms this year has been far fewer than the seven tropical storms and five hurricanes that had formed by this time last year, according to National Hurricane Center data.

Surprising Fact

The last time there were no named storms in the month of August was 1997, while the last time there were no named storms between July 3 and August 30 was 1941, Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach told USA Today.

Further Reading

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

Tropical Storm Danielle strengthens into hurricane (Associated Press)

Hurricane Season Has Been Unusually Quiet—But Forecasters Are Watching A Potential Cyclone (Forbes)