MIAMI – Hurricane season doesn't start until June, but a rare April tropical storm has formed in the Atlantic.
A weather system morphed into Tropical Storm Arlene on Thursday, becoming the first named storm of the year, the National Hurricane Center said.
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As of Friday morning, Arlene had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph and was moving northwest at 28 mph.
The storm is far from land, about 815 miles west of the Azores.
"We are watching what is now Tropical Storm Arlene, which is about 2,000 miles away from Florida and moving away every hour," News 6 meteorologist Troy Bridges said.
The system is expected to dissipate Friday or Saturday and no coastal watches or warnings are in effect.
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Arlene is only the second tropical storm observed in the month of April since weather satellites went into use.
Hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, but two storms formed last year before the official start of the season. The first Atlantic storm of 2016 was Hurricane Alex, which made an unseasonable debut in January over the far eastern Atlantic. Tropical Storm Bonnie formed in May 2016 off the South Carolina coast.
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Check back for updates on this developing story.