Tropical Depression 6 forms in distant Atlantic, NHC says
Published in News & Features
Tropical Depression Six formed in the far eastern Atlantic on Saturday, according to the National Hurricane Center.
As of the NHC’s initial 11 a.m. advisory, the center of the storm was located about 525 miles southwest of the Azores, moving north at 2 mph with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph.
“This system is expected to generally move to the northeast for the next 24 to 36 hours, before turning toward the southwest in a couple of days,” forecasters said. “Slight strengthening is possible during the next 24 hours, however after that gradual weakening is expected to occur.”
It is no threat to land, but the hurricane center does forecast to gain tropical storm strength.
If it did, it would become Tropical Storm Fay, the sixth named storm of this slow Atlantic hurricane season.
So far the hurricane season has yet to produce an actual hurricane, though, but has seen the formation of tropical storms Arthur, Bertha, Cristobal, Dolly and Edouard.
Edouard made landfall in Louisiana with the NHC’s last advisory coming on Sept. 3 as it moved inland over Texas.
It’s been quiet in the tropics since then.
Hurricane season began June 1 and runs through Nov. 30, but the height of hurricane season runs from mid-August through mid-October.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last month updated its seasonal forecast and now expects between seven and 13 named storms this year. Of those, two to six would become hurricanes. It also predicted that there might not be any major hurricanes this year, or at most two.
Already, 2026 was forecast to have lower-than-average storm generation, and that has been reduced even further with the latest forecasts from the NOAA and other weather groups.
An average year would see 14 named storms and seven hurricanes, with three of those growing to Category 3 strength or higher.
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