Bryan Norcross: Another storm in a strange place is trying to develop in the Atlantic
If the latest system can organize its thunderstorms around the clear center of circulation, it will have a chance to be named Don. In any case, it won't threaten land, but it will add to the named storms stats for this year.
Satellite image of a system in the Central Atlantic.
(FOX Weather)
Updated Wednesday at 9:15 a.m. EDT
It's been a year of oddball storms. In January, a system formed off the coast of New England – closer to Canada than the tropics. After the fact, it was determined that it should have been named Arlene at the time, from a meteorological perspective. So it counts as a "named storm" for this year. The weird thing is not that a storm formed in January. It's where it happened.
Then the storm that ended up being called Arlene formed in the Gulf in June. Okay, that's pretty normal, though it tracked in the opposite direction that June storms usually do.
Then two storms – Bret and Cindy – formed in the tropical Atlantic in June, which we've never seen. Again, it wasn't that they formed that was weird. It was where it happened.
And now a system is trying to get organized northeast of Bermuda. The current low-pressure system is related to an old front and an upper-level disturbance. But it's forecast to linger over moderately warm water under reasonably conducive upper winds just long enough that it could become at least somewhat tropical. Computer forecasts indicate that the system will have an opportunity to develop over the next few days before it eventually drifts over cool North Atlantic waters.
The outlook for Invest 94L in the central Atlantic Ocean.
(FOX Weather)
If it can organize its thunderstorms around the clear center of circulation, it will have a chance to be named Don. In any case, it won't threaten land, but it will add to the named storms stats for this year.
If the system forms into a depression or Don, it will be on the northeast corner of formation points for this time of year. This map from the National Hurricane Center shows where systems originated during mid-July between 1851 and 2015.
National Hurricane Center map showing were storms formed between 1851-2015.
(NOAA)
As the ocean typically warms through August and into September, we're more likely to have a rogue system or two form at those northern latitudes, but normally not at this time of year.
Otherwise, Saharan dust and hostile upper winds should keep the tropics under control into next week.