Atlantic hurricane season is over, but a rare December storm possible

Despite the fact the hurricane season ended last month, forecasters with the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) are keeping a close eye on the Atlantic basin this week for a rare, potential subtropical storm to develop.

The NHC recently issued a special tropical weather outlook for the potential development. In the next five days, there is a 40 per cent chance of tropical formation.

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If the system does become a subtropical storm, it will be named Owen -- the next entry in the 2022 list.

Also, if it does, it will be quite the accomplishment as the last storm that developed in December happened in 2013, an unnamed system. The NHC did a re-analysis of the 2013 disturbance, concluding that a short-lived low that developed south of the Azores during early December was a subtropical storm.

The most recent hurricane to occur in December was Espilson in 2005.

Here is what the NHC has to say about the current system:

A large area of low pressure located over the central subtropical Atlantic, about 1,207 km northeast of the northern Leeward Islands, is producing disorganized showers and thunderstorms. Environmental conditions appear conducive for this system to acquire some subtropical characteristics while it drifts northeastward during the next few days.

By Thursday night or Friday, however, the low is expected to move over cooler waters, ending its chances of becoming a subtropical cyclone.

So there will be a short window for development.

Stay tuned to The Weather Network for the latest forecast updates on this potential subtropical development.

Thumbnail courtesy of NOAA.