The National Hurricane Center is watching a system in the Atlantic that could potentially become a subtropical cyclone, days after the official end of hurricane season.
In a special tropical weather outlook issued Monday, the NHC said the area of low pressure is about 750 miles northeast of the northern Leeward Islands.
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“Environmental conditions appear conducive for this system to acquire some subtropical characteristics while it drifts northeastward during the next few days,” NHC said.
However, by Thursday night or Friday, the system is expected to move over cooler waters and end chances of it becoming a subtropical cyclone.
The system has a 30% chance of forming in the next 48 hours and a 40% chance of formation through the next five days.
The 2022 season had an unusually calm first half but made up for that with the three destructive hurricanes in the second half, ending with an average number of named storms. The season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.
This year’s period saw eight hurricanes with winds of at least 74 mph (119 kmh), and two of them intensified to major hurricanes with winds reaching at least 111 mph (179 kmh), according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. An average hurricane season has 14 named storms, seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes, forecasters said.
The only storm to make landfall in December in the Lower 48 was an unnamed tropical storm in 1925. That storm, of course, made landfall in Florida. Olga, in 2007, impacted Puerto Rico in December as well.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A Special Tropical Weather Outlook has been issued for the system located over the central Atlantic. This system has a medium chance of becoming a subtropical cyclone during the next few days as it moves slowly northeastward. See https://t.co/tW4KeGe9uJ for details. pic.twitter.com/LQX3u4e1dg
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) December 5, 2022