A reformed Tropical Storm Fay continued to churn in the Atlantic on Thursday while the National Hurricane Center also tracked a second Atlantic system that could develop.
As of the NHC’s 11 a.m. advisory, the center of Fay was located about 990 miles west-southwest of the Azores moving west at 6 mph with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph.
“A generally westward motion with some decrease in forward speed is expected over the next few days,” forecasters said. “Some additional strengthening is possible through tonight. A gradual weakening trend is expected to commence on Friday.”
Tropical-storm-force winds extend out up to 80 miles from its center.
It is no threat to land.
The NHC also continued to forecast high chances a broad area of low pressure a few hundred miles south-southeast of the Cape Verde Islands could develop.
“This system could become a short-lived tropical depression or a tropical storm later today or on Friday while it moves northwestward to northward,” forecasters said. “Increasing upper-level winds, however, should prevent further development by the weekend. Interests in the Cape Verde Islands should monitor the progress of this system as gusty winds, areas of heavy rain, and flash flooding are possible over the islands by Friday.”
The NHC gave it a 70% chance to develop in the next two to seven days.
If it were to become strong enough, it could become Tropical Storm Gonzalo.
Fay became the sixth named storm of this slow Atlantic hurricane season, but fell apart for a day before reforming. So far the hurricane season has yet to produce an actual hurricane, though, but has seen the formation of tropical storms Arthur, Bertha, Cristobal, Dolly and Edouard.
Edouard made landfall in Louisiana with the NHC’s last advisory coming on Sept. 3 as it moved inland over Texas.
It’s been quiet in the tropics since then.
Hurricane season began June 1 and runs through Nov. 30, but the height of hurricane season runs from mid-August through mid-October.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last month updated its seasonal forecast and now expects between seven and 13 named storms this year. Of those, two to six would become hurricanes. It also predicted that there might not be any major hurricanes this year, or at most two.
Already, 2026 was forecast to have lower-than-average storm generation, and that has been reduced even further with the latest forecasts from the NOAA and other weather groups.
An average year would see 14 named storms and seven hurricanes, with three of those growing to Category 3 strength or higher.