The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) began monitoring the first Atlantic disturbance on March 17, although the Atlantic hurricane season officially began on June 1.
Although a named storm rarely appears early in the year, NHC meteorologist Robbie Berg said the phenomenon of tropical disturbances in the spring in the Atlantic is not unprecedented.
In 2024, the NHC detected the first Atlantic disturbance on April 24 - a low pressure area about 1,450 km northwest of the Cabo Verde Islands. The system quickly dissipated due to strong winds. Then, another tropical wave formed near Hispaniola in May.
Previously, in 2023, a low pressure area off the northeastern coast of the United States in January was identified as a subtropical storm, becoming the first tornado of the year.
The first stir of the year is a disjointed cluster of showers and thunderstorms, located about 1,100 km northeast of the Leeward Islands. The system is unlikely to develop into a tropical storm and the NHC stopped monitoring on the morning of March 18.
According to climatologist Berg, the NHC is monitoring non-tropical systems if there are any signs of developing into tropical formations, regardless of whether it is in the hurricane season. The March 17 system has only a 10% chance of developing, so we do not consider it a threat, said meteorologist Robbie Berg.
Meteorologist Berg explains that weather systems are located on a wide spectrum, from completely tropical (like storms) to completely non-tropical (like winter storms). Non-tropical systems often form in the Atlantic, and sometimes, such as the March 17 disturbance, have some characteristics that are close to tropical storms.
Typhoons in March are rare but not non-existent. From 1851 to present, there have been 41 tropical storms or hurricanes forming in the Atlantic Ocean between January and May, before the official hurricane season begins. However, according to Florida State University researcher Phil Klotzbach, March typhoon systems are extremely rare.
Phil Klotzbach stressed that historically, there has only been one tropical storm that formed in March, a Category 2 storm, which swept across the Leeward and Caribbean islands in 1908.
Although the first disturbance of the year does not develop into a storm, the early appearance of weather disturbances raises concerns about the possibility of a more complicated storm season this year.
