Despite Atlantic hurricane season’s end, NHC keeps its eyes on a system with odds of development

Joe Mario Pedersen, Orlando Sentinel
·2 min read

The 2020 Atlantic Hurricane season is officially over, but specialists at the National Hurricane Center haven’t gone home for the holidays as a system in the east Atlantic continues to have odds of development.

The NHC is tracking a gale-force, non-tropical low pressure system centered a couple of hundred miles north-northwest of the Madeira Islands, which continues to produce a broad area of showers and thunderstorms well to the east of the center, according to the NHC’s 7 p.m. Monday update. With the end of the Atlantic season, the NHC is no longer putting out regularly timed updates, but will be releasing a special update 10 a.m. Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the surrounding environment isn’t ideal for the system to develop subtropical characteristics over the next 24 hours as it drifts southwestward.

The system has a 30% chance of becoming a tropical depression or a tropical storm in the next two to five days.

If it were to do the latter, it would become the 31st named storm of the record-breaking storm season and would receive the Greek letter Kappa as its name.

Storms occurring outside of hurricane season are not unheard of as a tropical storm was recorded to in January nearly five months before the 2016 Atlantic hurricane season.

The first Tropical Storm Zeta of 2005 developed on Dec. 28, well after the official end of hurricane season.

Even if the system develops, it poses no threat to Florida. However, as a precaution, the City of Orlando reminded residents to keep their hurricane supplies around, just in case.

“Today is officially the last day of hurricane season! But seeing 2020 has been a hurricane in itself, it’s best to stay prepared,” city officials tweeted on Monday. “Keep your disaster kits stocked with batteries, masks, disinfectants and 7 days worth of non-perishable food.”

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