A center of low pressure over the north-central Atlantic Ocean earned the distinction of becoming the basin’s first named tropical system of the year on Tuesday.
After several days of playing “will it, won’t it,” the system displayed enough thunderstorm activity near the center of the storm to qualify as Tropical Storm Andrea.
The National Hurricane Center wrote in their forecast discussion: “Even though deep convection is now decreasing, due to the persistent convection overnight and pulsing convection over the past 36 hours, the system has met the criteria of being classified as a tropical storm, albeit a marginal one, making Tropical Storm Andrea the first Atlantic storm of the year.”
That’s meteorologist-ese for “it’s a sad sack of clouds.” Andrea will remain out to sea and should fall apart by Wednesday morning.
Climatologically speaking, the Atlantic’s first named storm usually forms around June 20th, so we’re only a few days behind on that front. The heart of the season remains a long way off—activity usually ramps up in August before reaching its peak during the second week of September.
Seasonal outlooks published by both NOAA and Colorado State University call for an above-average season across the Atlantic in the weeks and months ahead. These forecasts are based on warmer-than-usual ocean waters, an uptick in monsoon activity over western Africa, and a lack of El Niño conditions in the Pacific Ocean.
Make sure you’re prepared for hurricane season well before a storm forms—whether you’re on the coast or hundreds of miles inland.
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