Skip to main content
Clear icon
64º

Rare tropical storm forms in South Atlantic. Here are the details

Southern hemisphere tropical system first since 2021

Tropical Storm (Jonathan Kegges)

ORLANDO, Fla. – A rare tropical storm formed Monday off the coast of Brazil.

Tropical Storm Akará became the first tropical system to form in the South Atlantic basin, in the the southern hemisphere, since 2021.

The storm is expected to move away from land. Sea-surface temperatures where the storm was located were near 80 degrees.

Sea surface temperatures in the South Atlantic.

It’s so rare for a storm to develop in the South Atlantic basin that there is not even a defined hurricane season. Storms typically do not form in that part of the world due to an abundance of wind shear, which disrupts tropical development.

There is also a lack of disturbances suitable for tropical development.

There are defined seasons elsewhere south of the equator, however. The South Pacific and Indian oceans both have a set season.

Tropical cyclone formation zones across the world. Note there is no defined season for the South Atlantic. The arrows represent typical movement of the tropical cyclones.

Storms in the southern hemisphere spin clockwise, opposite of the northern hemisphere. This is due to the Coriolis effect.

The northern hemisphere basins include the south and west Indian Ocean, east, west, and central Pacific Ocean and of course Atlantic ocean. The oceans are the largest bodies of water the systems form in, however each basin can have gulfs, bays and seas in which storms develop and move into.

For example the Atlantic basin consists of the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico.