Hurricane season begins on June 1, but here we are, talking about the possibility of a developing low pressure system east of Florida.
First let me start by saying that this system, whatever it becomes, will be NO threat to the Bay Area and generally no threat to Florida. But what will this system even be? There has been talk about this low taking on subtropical characteristics and possibility tropical characteristics down the line.
- Resources: Interactive hurricane tracker | Hurricane Quiz | Hurricane Glossary
Subtropical means that the system will be partially tropical and partially extra-tropical, which simply means non-tropical. Several years ago, meteorologists started giving subtropical storms names and/or numbers. So, it is possible that the “A” storm this year would be subtropical.
Named storms in May, even though outside of the hurricane season, are not uncommon. In fact since 2007, there have been four named systems in May. Tropical Storms Alberto and Beryl formed in 2012. That was unusual to have two named storms in May of one year. In 2008, Tropical Storm Arthur formed on May 31. In 2007, Subtropical Storm Andrea formed on May 9.
So, this year we may have one, and it could lead to some heavy rain and wind along the Carolina Coast by the end of the week. But for us, it will drag in some dry air and cut off rain chances into the weekend.