Hurricane Center begins daily tropical updates; Oops, we already had 1 storm

Roger Simmons, Orlando Sentinel
Updated ·2 min read

The National Hurricane Center on Monday started its daily Tropical Weather Outlook updates for the upcoming 2023 hurricane season.

First, the good news: All is quiet 18 days before the official start of hurricane season on June 1.

“For the North Atlantic, Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico: Tropical cyclone formation is not expected during the next 7 days,” the NHC said in its first seasonal update.

Now, the somewhat weird news: We’ve already have had a subtropical storm this year, but most of us – including the NHC – didn’t realize it at the time.

In a “re-assessment of weather systems,” the National Hurricane Center said, “hurricane specialists have determined that an area of low pressure that formed off the northeastern coast of the United States in mid-January should be designated as a subtropical storm.”

The hurricane center said it would provide more information about its justification for classifying the January system as a sub-tropical storm in its Tropical Cyclone Report, which will be issued in the coming months.

Because of the January storm, the next tropical depression that forms will be known as “Tropical Depression Two,” the NHC said. But the next tropical storm or hurricane will still get the name “Arlene,” which is the first name scheduled to be used this season.

The 2022 hurricane season had 14 named storms, including 10 hurricanes: Alex, Bonnie, Danielle, Earl, Fiona, Ian, Julia, Lisa, Martin and Nicole. Fiona and Ian were classified as major hurricanes.

There were also four tropical storms that did not reach hurricane strength: Alex, Colin, Gaston and Hermine.

Three hurricanes made landfall along the U.S. mainland coast, including two in Florida – Ian and Nicole.

Ian, which came ashore in Cayo Costa in Southwest Florida as a Category 4 storm with 150 mph maximum-sustained winds, tied for the fifth-strongest hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. In addition to its wind damage in Southwest Florida, Ian caused massive flooding in Central Florida from its heavy rain.

Hurricane season will begin on June 1 and run through Nov. 30.