Chantal, the season's third named storm, formed on Tuesday night in the north-central Atlantic. As of Wednesday morning, it's a tropical storm with 40 mph sustained winds centered 450 miles south of Newfoundland.
Similar to Barry back in July, Chantal's origins were over land, and it eventually acquired tropical cyclone characteristics once over water long enough. Last Thursday (15th), the disturbance that would become Chantal was over the Florida panhandle, and it subsequently meandered its way across Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, then out over the ocean where it began to take shape.
It is forecast to marginally maintain tropical storm status for a couple days before weakening in the face of dry air, strong vertical wind shear, and cooler water.
So far this season, the southernmost named storm was Barry at about 28°N... nothing has formed or existed in the tropics yet. But we're just now entering the peak of the "Cabo Verde" season, where we closely watch disturbances coming from Africa for development (Cabo Verde is the archipelago off the west coast of Africa). The vast majority of major hurricanes have an African pedigree.
Over the past fifty years, the average date of third named storm formation is August 13, so this is about a week late. Using the same climatology, 84% of the season's ACE (Accumulated Cyclone Energy) occurs after August 20. As of today, 2019 is at just 22% of average for the date. But things should start waking up soon.
Closer to home, there's a disturbance near the Bahamas that has a slim chance of becoming a tropical cyclone and will approach Florida this weekend. If nothing else, it will bring elevated chances of heavy rain to the Florida peninsula starting on Friday. (Miami has already had its 9th wettest August on record, with 11 days to go!)
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| The yellow X marks the approximate center of the disturbance today, while the yellow filled "blob" is the area where tropical cyclone formation might occur in the coming five days. |
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