Rare January subtropical storm forms in Atlantic

With maximum sustained winds of about 50mph, it is not likely to strengthen much in the next two days before losing the structure of a subtropical storm.

Five January tropical cyclones have spun around in the Atlantic since 1900, according to Philip Klotzbach, a research scientist with Colorado State University’s Department of Atmospheric Science.

It was moving northeast at 14 mph (22 kph) and was centered about 785 miles (1,260 kilometers) south of the Azores.

A subtropical storm is a storm that has some tropical cyclone whirling characteristics, but isn’t as strong as the 39 miles per hour winds that mark a tropical storm.

NHC noted that interests in the Azores should monitor the progress of this system and strong gusty winds could begin to affect portions of those islands by late Thursday or early Friday, Jan. 15.

In 2015, the first named storm, Ana, – which was also classified as subtropical – formed on May 7. Sometimes subtropical storms can become fully tropical over the course of time. A subtropical storm is a hybrid of a tropical storm and a regular low pressure system. Post-season and pre-season tropical systems are usually relatively weak, in part due to cooler sea-surface temperatures in the winter and spring months, limiting the ability for such storms to intensify. The low pressure system is located deep in the north Atlantic, closer to the African coast.