January hurricane? Yup..

[avb3]

I suppose there's nothing like a January hurricane in the Atlantic to throw a few kinks into people's sailing plans.

Atlantic hurricane in January linked to El Nino - Atlantic hurricane in January linked to El Nino - BBC News

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[a64pilot]

I hope this doesn't mean anything for the rest of the year. Awful early start?

[gamayun]

And in the Pacific, too: Hurricane Pali sets Pacific record - Al Jazeera English

We might be looking at the new normals...

[boatman61]

Its been worsening in the N Atlantic over the last few years now.. nasty things are further S these days..

[alansmith]

Holy Shizzle Sticks, just off of Google News. Not seen a hurricane at this time of year since 1938.


Positioned 490 miles south of the Azores, Alex is making a beeline toward the group of islands that sit about 900 miles west of Portugal. The Azores government has issued hurricane warnings for the most of the islands. Only 10 hurricanes on record have tracked within 200 miles of the Azores, all in August or September, notes The Weather Channel’s Jonathan Erdman.
“Alex is in a rare spot for September, much less January,” tweeted Eric Blake, a forecaster at the National Hurricane Center. “It is only the 2nd hurricane on record to form north of 30N (latitude) east of 30W (longitude).”

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by avb3

I suppose there's nothing like a January hurricane in the Atlantic to throw a few kinks into people's sailing plans.

Atlantic hurricane in January linked to El Nino - Atlantic hurricane in January linked to El Nino - BBC News

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

The good news

A strong El Niño is expected to gradually weaken through spring 2016, and to transition to ENSO-neutral during late spring or early summer.

Climate Prediction Center: ENSO Diagnostic Discussion

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by gamayun

And in the Pacific, too: Hurricane Pali sets Pacific record - Al Jazeera English

We might be looking at the new normals...

I hope not.

I might be doing a delivery of a Vic Maui Race boat back to Vancouver in August.

In 2000 we waited a out a near miss of Oahu before heading back.

[a64pilot]

I merged the two threads about the hurricane

[zeehag]

el nino usually tames in june, so by august you should be ok and not die..mebbe......

[barnakiel]

The storm got under the label 'tropical' (then ex-tropical) only because it strayed into what is considered the 'tropical' to NHC / NOAA. I think they had little option but to give it a name.

My clients were some 120 miles off the center just before the storm got its letter. It was a typical 'off the front' system secondary that grew in the W and would otherwise go its normal route towards the Azores. BUT the High retreated so much that the new low high dropped bomb-like all the way to lat 25 or thereabouts when it got to mid-Atlantic.

As someone already noted - this does bear some similarity to that 2015 system that dropped way below the regular track set for April / May storms, which ended in life and boats lost in the group returning from the Caribbean to Europe.

We can only hope these two events are one(s) off. Sure, thing now that there have been two such events, we are faced with a somewhat more demanding mental task. Esp. those of us who want to sail Carib to the Azores this year ...

Cheers,
b.