Tropical storm Gabrielle formed in the Mid-Atlantic Ocean and ended an unusual nearly three weeks at the peak of the hurricane season without storms.
Gabrielle was formed Wednesday morning, just 1,000 miles from the Leed Islands in the northern Caribbean, with sustained winds of 45 mph.
National Hurricane Center forecasts require Gabrielle to become a hurricane by Saturday–northwest. Despite the warm water, the storm faced some obstacles in the atmosphere over the next few days, so it was still uncertain how powerful it would become.
The U.S. is not expected to see the direct impact of the system, but it is likely to surf the East Coast next week.
Gabrielle is the first tropical storm in the Atlantic Ocean since the decline of Fernand on August 28.
Dr. Phil Klotzbach, a hurricane expert and research scientist at Colorado State University, said the storm took place only for the second time since 1950 from August 29 to September 16. The last time happened was the quiet period after Hurricane Andrew's devastating strike against the United States in 1992.
Over the next few days, high pressure in the north of the system will act as a steering wheel, with its clockwise movement placing the storm on a northwest road that will take it north of the Eastern Caribbean Island this weekend. High surfing and dangerous tearing currents will be the main impacts of these islands, including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
The high pressure will then be enough to get the system further north into the Mid-Atlantic. Where this happens will determine how far it is from Bermuda next week.
The National Hurricane Center said it could slowly develop into another tropical system in the coming days as it crosses the Eastern and Central Atlantic Oceans in the coming days, another shower and storm emerges from Africa. This system is not an imminent threat at least next week, whether it is tropical depression or storm.
The seventh tropical storm of the season usually forms before September 3, so the storm is about two weeks late.
Most tropical activities in the Atlantic Ocean – depression, storms and hurricanes – occur from mid-August to mid-October. But most of September is usually very busy, as it is a combination of multiple atmospheric and marine conditions that make the tropical system easy to come to life.
There is a lot of warm water available for tropical troubles in September this year. The sea surface temperatures throughout the basin are currently warmer than usual and are like this for most of the summer.
But in the six tropical storms this season, only one Already Become a Hurricane: Irene. Erin is a horrifying peek into the order of a new world, the Atlantic storm becomes as the warmth of the earth.
The Atlantic has been working hard to cause storms this year due to factors above the ocean.
The tropical Atlantic Ocean has been wrapped in dry, stable air. This factor can help limit any wanting to be a tropical system to weather that produces storms.
In the western and central parts of the Atlantic Ocean, the winds that kill storms in different levels of atmospheres are also stronger than usual.
These two atmospheric factors have been a barrier to the formation of tropical systems from stormy areas that move from the coast of Africa to the Atlantic Ocean this time of year.
The stormy breeding ground narrowed westward away from Africa for October. The Gulf, Caribbean and Western Atlantic are typical stratigraphic hotspots in the late season, and since these areas are closer to land, any storm that forms has a greater chance of dangerous effects.