First subtropical storm of 2023 developed months before hurricane season begins
BOSTON - The first subtropical storm is in the books for 2023, and it was months before the start of actual hurricane season starting on June 1st.
Thursday the National Hurricane Center confirmed that a storm in mid-January met its criteria for becoming a subtropical storm. A subtropical storm shares the same DNA of both a standard nor'easter and a tropical system.
"NHC hurricane specialists have determined that an area of low pressure that formed off the northeastern coast of the United States in mid-January should be designated as a subtropical storm," the NHC said.
At the time, the WBZ weather team was watching this closely.
During his January 16th weathercast, Chief Meteorologist Eric Fisher said, "This is a hurricane center map. Not something we usually show in January. They've been watching this, this little baby swirl. This reminds me so much of the Perfect Storm in 1991. They haven't named this. It has an eye; it has a warm core to it. It definitely is a tropical system."
The peak of hurricane season is usually late August into October, but the big question, how rare are January subtropical storms. Turns out -- PRETTY RARE! Before today, there had only been six January subtropical storms and none were as far north and west as this storm.
In recent years, the National Hurricane Center investigated bumping up the start date for hurricane season to May 15.
Maria Torres, a Public Affairs officer for NHC said, "The team determined that the current range of dates of the hurricane season (June 1 through November 30) already covers 96% of tropical cyclone activity, and moving the start date two weeks earlier would only add an additional 1% of activity".
So for now, that idea has been shelved. Still, we must remain diligent throughout tropical season.