Storm Danielle forms in the Atlantic and is expected to morph into the first hurricane of season

Tropical Storm Danielle formed Thursday in the Atlantic and is expected to become the first hurricane of an unusually quiet storm season.

But the storm is not currently a threat to any land.

At the time of writing, the storm’s maximum sustained winds were near 40 mph. Additional strengthening is forecast and the storm is expected to become a hurricane in two days or so, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Over the weekend, the storm’s winds should be around 100 mph.  

The storm is centered about 960 miles west of the Azores and is moving east near 2 mph. The slow moving storm is expected to meander in the Atlantic over the next few days.

The storm is likely to cause hazardous conditions for shipping routes.  On Sunday, winds are expected to be up around the 85 – 90 miles per hour mark. 

The tropical storm comes amid what had been a calm hurricane season. Danielle is the first named storm to form in the Atlantic Basin since July when Colin formed.

The storm is not expected to trouble the southeastern United States. There is a chance that the storm could impact Bermuda. 

According to the Weather Channel, the system will head in a northeastern direction over the Atlantic Ocean towards Iceland. 

The Weather Channel report notes that the main concern in the US will be for high surf and rip currents over the holiday weekend. 

While Fox Weather meteorologist Michael Estime said: ‘Just east of the Lesser Antilles is a cluster of thunderstorms becoming a little bit more organized under that area of low pressure.’

He continued: ‘And that possible development area has increased over the next five days.’ 

On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, the storm is likely to eventually bring heavy rain fall to the Cape Verde Islands. 

It is the first time since 1941 that the Atlantic has gone from July 3 to the end of August with no named storm, Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach had told The Associated Press earlier.

The next storm will be named Earl, then Fiona, then Gaston, keeping in line with tradition to name storms and hurricanes alphabetically.. 

The lack of storms is causing some to relax – and scientists to insist that they are not yet incorrect in their forecasts.

‘No hurricanes at season’s halftime? Second half usually much different,’ tweeted Dr Rick Knabb, a hurricane expert at The Weather Channel.

And the National Hurricane Center on Wednesday tweeted: ‘Hurricane season is heating up! NHC is monitoring 3 areas for tropical development during the next 5 days in the Atlantic basin.’

On May 24, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that they predicted a particularly intense 2022 season.

‘Forecasters at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, a division of the National Weather Service, are predicting above-average hurricane activity this year — which would make it the seventh consecutive above-average hurricane season,’ they said.

NOAA predicted a 65 percent chance of an above-normal season, a 25 percent chance of a near-normal season and a 10 percent chance of a below-normal season.

They forecast 14 to 21 named storms, with winds of 39 mph or higher, of which six to 10 could become hurricanes.

Up to six of those could become major hurricanes, they predicted. 

The phenomena has happened five other times since 1950, making a quiet stretch this long leading up to peak season a roughly once-a-decade event.

He said that one reason for the recent quiet stretch could be higher than normal wind shear – winds turning at the different levels of the atmosphere, which stop storm development.

Another observation was an increase in Saharan dust this season, which works against storm development.

The quiet spell is even more puzzling given that the United Nations weather agency on Wednesday said they expect La Niña to last through the end of this year.

La Niña is a natural and cyclical cooling of parts of the equatorial Pacific that changes weather patterns worldwide, often leading to more Atlantic hurricanes, less rain and more wildfires.

If La Niña does continue for the rest of the year, it will be the first ‘triple dip’ this century – three straight years of the climatic phenomenon being felt.

It is all the more remarkable that there have been no hurricanes in a La Niña year.

There were no tropical storms or hurricanes in the month of August in 1961 and 1997.

Forecasters are monitoring three potential storms currently in the Atlantic.

In Lake Charles, Louisiana, one of the more weather-battered cities in the past decade, residents have noticed how quiet the hurricane season is so far and it’s almost ‘testing fate’ to bring it up, Mayor Nic Hunter said. 

From August 2020 to August 2021, the city was hammered by two hurricanes — Laura and Delta — only six weeks apart, a deep freeze and spring flooding. Residents still have blue tarps on their roofs.

‘I think there’s a lot of knocking on wood. There’s a lot of prayers,’ Hunter said. ‘Until the season is over, I don’t think anybody’s going to have any sighs of relief.’

Certainly not 74-year-old Shirley Verdin, who lives about 200 miles (320 kilometers) away in Bayou Point-Au-Chien, where Hurricane Ida ripped through on Aug. 29 last year. 

She now lives in a Federal Emergency Management Agency trailer next to her gutted home that will be demolished down to the pilings this weekend so it can be rebuilt.

There are wisps of potential storm systems swirling in the Atlantic that meteorologists are following and so is Verdin. Closely.

‘I know there’s something out there right now,’ she said.