Hurricane Alex, Extremely Rare For January, Headed For Azores

The National Hurricane Center began keeping records in 1851 and in the 165 years since, only four such storms formed in January.

A warning has been issued for the Azores Islands as Hurricane Alex heads in that direction with wind speeds of 140km/h (85 mph). Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 25 miles (35 km) from the center and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 150 miles.

The Azores Meteorological Service issued a hurricane warning for several islands in the central Azores, as hurricane conditions are expected to spread over the islands by early Friday.

A tropical storm forms before June, usually in the month of May, about once every 10 years, according to calculation completed by The Weather Channel based on the longer-term average.

A low pressure system strengthened rapidly from a tropical storm on Wednesday to become Hurricane Alex on Thursday. First, the National Hurricane Center announced late yesterday afternoon that a subtropical storm, named Alex, had formed in the eastern Atlantic near the Azores islands. He also says two other systems developed in December and survived into January: Alice in 1954-1955 and Zeta in 2005-2006.

“Remarkably, Alex has undergone the transformation into a hurricane”, the National Hurricane Center announced January 14.

The water was indeed cool – about 68 degrees Fahrenheit – but the air was super cold at minus 76 degrees. Alex was expected to remain a hurricane as it moves over the islands. The last hurricane that formed in the Atlantic during January was in 1938. That precipitation could spur mudslides and flash floods, while unsafe storm surges could produce flooding along the coast. Otherwise, the storm path seems headed north toward Greenland, continuing to lose strength along the way.

The forecast track brings the storm farther northward as the storm rapidly weakens over the next 48 hours.