After our snowy and cold weather the last few days, the last thing you would expect to hear from a meteorologist is this: we have hurricane in the Atlantic, and its name is Alex.
Yes, you read that correctly.
Alex developed Wednesday in the north central Atlantic. The National Hurricane Center upgraded Alex Thursday at 10 a.m., making it the first Atlantic hurricane to form in January since 1938. Warnings have been issued for the Azores, where the storm's impact will be felt as early as today.
Winds with Alex are currently sustained at 85 mph (as of 10 a.m. 1/14/16). It is moving to the north/northeast and will make landfall soon over the Azores.
Since record keeping began in 1851, Alex is only the fourth storm to develop in January! Remember though, satellites weren’t around to help us see storms that didn’t impact land or ships prior to the 60s and 70s.
Hurricane season begins June 1 and ends November 30, but we have seen storms develop outside of hurricane season before.
