The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season is officially the most active on record.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami said that Subtropical Storm Theta formed Monday night in the Atlantic Ocean, becoming the 29th named storm of the season.
“We have another named storm in the Atlantic and now we are officially the busiest hurricane season the Atlantic has ever seen,” Fox News senior meteorologist Janice Dean said Tuesday on “Fox & Friends.” “2020, my friends.”
Theta emerged out in the far open northeast Atlantic.
Subtropical Storm Theta is seen over the Atlantic on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020. (NOAA/GOES-East)
The storm is located about 960 miles southwest of the Azores with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph.
“The good news with Theta, it’s moving away from the U.S.,” Dean said.
Subtropical Storm Theta is moving east across the Atlantic. (Fox News)
Theta is forecast to continue moving in an east-northeast direction over the next couple of days. The storm may also slightly strengthen over the next 24 hours.
There are no coastal watches or warnings in effect, as Theta doesn’t post any threat to land.
But the storm’s formation means this is now a historic hurricane season for the most named storms of all time beating out the 2005 season, with 29 named storms.
Theta’s formation comes as Tropical Storm Eta continues to linger off the coast of Cuba, bringing flooding rains to South Florida.
“This is the latest in the calendar year that the Atlantic hurricane season has had two named storms simultaneously since November 10, 1932,” Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach tweeted.
There are just a few weeks left in the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, which ends Nov. 30, but this season has broken numerous records as forecasters in September ran out of traditional names and went to the Greek alphabet for storms Alpha and Beta.
NOAA forecasters had called for up to 25 named storms this season with winds of 39 mph or higher; of those, seven to 10 could become hurricanes. Among those hurricanes, three to six will be major, classified as Category 3, 4 and 5 with winds of 111 mph or higher.
That’s far above an average year. Based on 1981-to-2010 data, that is 12 named storms, six hurricanes, and three major hurricanes. So far this year, there have been 29 named storms, including 11 hurricanes and, of those, four major hurricanes.
A look at the Greek alphabet names that are being used for the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, after the hurricane center ran out of official names due to the number of storms. (Fox News)
The last time the Greek alphabet was used in the Atlantic was in 2005, the year of Hurricane Katrina. With a total of 28 storms that year, the first six letters of the Greek alphabet were used: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon and Zeta.
As if Theta isn’t enough, forecasters are keeping their eye on what will probably be the 30th named storm later this week south of Hispaniola.
