Hurricanes Surprise Out In The Atlantic Ocean

Hurricane Gonzalo northeast of Puerto Rico Tuesday morning.  

While we were all distracted by Pacific typhoons, Indian cyclones and tornadoes in the American South, the Atlantic Ocean has unexpectedly flared with two surprising hurricanes.

Usually, the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season is around the first half of September, but it the whole season has thankfully been rather dull this year.

We're below average in the number of hurricanes and tropical storms in the Atlantic Ocean this year.

However, we have had a late season burst. What many thought would be a mediocre tropical storm named Fay blossomed over the weekend. It blasted Bermuda with sustained winds of 61 mph with gusts to 82 mph Sunday morning.

Fay then briefly became a hurricane as it moved toward the northeast, but then died a quick death over colder ocean water and killer upper level winds that tore it apart.

Then Gonzalo formed. As of Tuesday morning, it had sustained winds of 110 mph, and was expected to strengthen to a major hurricane with 135 mph sustained winds on Wednesday.

As Gonzalo was rapidly strengthening, it caused winds of 67 mph with gusts to 88 mph on Antigua, says Dr. Jeff Masters on his Weather Underground blog.   

Luckily, it's mostly missing Puerto Rico as it curves up toward the north. It could threaten Bermuda (again!) later this week, but Gonzalo will miss the United States East Coast by a very wide margin, so we don't have to worry about that.

After Gonzalo fades away, the Atlantic Ocean will quiet down again.

Then eyes turn toward the Pacific, as Tropical Storm Ana, which might become a hurricane, could threaten Hawaii by this weekend.