Doyle Rice, USA TODAY
Published 11:23 a.m. ET July 22, 2020 | Updated 5:06 p.m. ET July 22, 2020
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Accuweather
Tropical Storm Gonzalo formed Wednesday morning in the Atlantic Ocean, the National Hurricane Center said. It’s the earliest “G” storm in any Atlantic hurricane season on record.
The storm is expected to become a hurricane Thursday, with winds of at least 75 mph.
The hurricane center said Gonzalo was far from land: As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, it was about 1,110 miles east of the Southern Windward Islands of the Caribbean. The system had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph and was moving to the west at 14 mph.
“Gonzalo is expected to move near or over the southern Windward Islands this weekend and could bring direct impacts from winds and heavy rainfall,” the hurricane center said.
It is forecast to weaken back to tropical storm strength as it nears the islands.
When Gonzalo became a named storm Wednesday morning, it broke a record set by Tropical Storm Gert, which formed July 24, 2005, during a notorious season.
According to AccuWeather, many storms this year have beat out storms from the 2005 season, known as the most active on record, for the title of earliest to form in the basin. The 2020 season pales in comparison with 2005 in terms of overall intensity.
By this point in 2005, the Atlantic basin had spawned three hurricanes and two major hurricanes – Category 3 or higher – according to Phil Klotzbach, a tropical meteorologist at Colorado State University.
Hurricane season 2020: From Arthur to Wilfred, here’s the list of hurricane names this season
In addition to Gonzalo, forecasters monitored a system in the Gulf of Mexico, which could spin up into a tropical depression or storm in the next couple of days, the hurricane center said.
“Regardless of development, increasing winds and seas across the upper Texas coastal waters should begin on Thursday, and the threat of heavy rainfall spreads into Southeast Texas Friday through Saturday,” the National Weather Service in Houston said.
In the Pacific Ocean, Tropical Storm Douglas strengthened into a hurricane Wednesday morning. As of 5 p.m. EDT, Hurricane Douglas had winds of 80 mph and was 1,690 miles from Hilo, Hawaii.
It could impact Hawaii on Sunday, probably after weakening back to a tropical storm, the hurricane center said.
More: Hurricane season off to historically fast start: What does that mean for the rest of the year?
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