ATLANTA — Subtropical Storm Don formed early Friday morning, the fourth named storm of the Atlantic Hurricane Season. It is in the open Atlantic, more than 1,000 miles west of the Azores.
Not purely tropical in all of its characteristics, the subtropical storm will continue northward through the first half of the weekend, then will be steered clockwise towards the southeast.
This storm poses no direct threat to land. It's what we call a 'fish storm'... it only impacts fish and a few shipping routes, churning up the seas. Before the age of weather satellites, storms in this part of the Atlantic probably wouldn't have had a name or had been known about.
Other than Don, no tropical activity is expected in the Atlantic Basin in the next week. We don't expect to see anything in the "main development region" in the tropical Atlantic thanks to a plume of Saharan Dust. This dry airmass suppresses tropical activity.
Don is the fourth named storm of the Atlantic Hurricane Season. Emily is the next name on the list. Hurricane season peaks September 10th and ends November 30th.
NOAA forecasts near-normal activity this year in the Atlantic with 12 to 17 named storms. The present El Niño can suppress tropical activity, but the unusually warm tropical waters can give the opposite effect.
