Atlantic could have a subtropical storm this month. What are the chances?

An El Nino-related tropical storm has formed southwest of Hawaii, only the third such system to develop in January in over 40 years. “It’s very rare in the Atlantic Ocean to have a named system”, he said.

An extratropical low pressure system is being monitored for tropical development.

Tropical storm Pali becomes the earliest central Pacific tropical storm on record.

The hurricane center said that the storm was already producing gale-force winds of 60-65 miles per hour as it moved east-southeastward.

The Central Pacific hurricane season runs June 1 to November 30.

As the system moves northeastward to eastward across the open Atlantic, it may eventually begin to take on some subtropical characteristics. This does not include subtropical storms, although it appears that only two such storms have developed over the same time-frame in January.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center is tracking the system, which was about 425 miles (684 kilometers) west-southwest of Bermuda on Thursday, and gives it a 30 percent chance of becoming at least a subtropical storm by early next week.

Feltgen said there are three storms since 1851 listed as having formed in January. Only a storm in 1938 reached hurricane strength.

A strong El Niño year is considered one of the reasons for the unusual activity.

A tropical disturbance, named as Invest 90-C, is likely to intensify into a tropical depression or tropical storm by the end of this week.