Rare January hurricane forms in Atlantic, threatens Azores

Alex is not just the first Atlantic hurricane to form in January, it’s also the first North Atlantic hurricane to thrive in January since Hurricane Alice in 1955, which formed on December 30, 1954, said NASA.

The hurricane center warned heavy rain – as much as 7 inches – could spur life-threatening flash floods and mudslides in the Azores, an island chain 850 miles west of Portugal that’s home to about 250,000 people. “With records going back to 1851, we only have one hurricane that formed in the Atlantic basin in January and that was in 1938″.

Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 25 miles (35 km) from the center and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 150 miles.

A warning has been issued for the Azores Islands as Hurricane Alex heads in that direction with wind speeds of 140km/h (85 mph). However, in the Atlantic during El Nino years there is more wind shear which actually inhibits the formation of hurricanes, which makes this storm even rarer. “The unusually warm waters for Alex were due, in part, to the high levels of global warming that brought Earth its warmest year on record in 2015”. A unsafe storm surge is expected to produce significant coastal flooding near and to the east of the center of Alex.

Alex was centred about 35 miles (55 kilometres) north of Terceira in the central Azores and is moving north near 28 mph (44 kph).

Weathermen have described Hurricane Alex as a rare and “weird” storm because it is very abnormal for a Hurricane to form in the North Atlantic ocean in the middle of winter. However, temperatures in the upper atmosphere in that area are extremely cold, down to around minus-60 degrees Celsius, or minus-76 degrees Fahrenheit.

There’s no expectation, though, that Alex will directly strike either the United States or mainland Europe.

The 2016 Atlantic hurricane season officially begins on June 1.