Miami, FL – The 4th named storm of the 2015 Atlantic hurricane season is upon us.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami announced Tropical Storm Danny’s birth on Tuesday afternoon, less than 12 hours after confirming that a tropical depression formed over 3,000 miles southeast of Cape Canaveral.
Forecasters think the strengthening storm – roughly halfway between the west African coast and the southeastern Caribbean – could be a hurricane by as soon as Thursday.
There are no watches or warnings in effect as the storm isn’t near any significant body of land.
Meteorologists say the storm system is likely to stay moving west as it grows, which would keep its track well away from Florida.
There have been 3 named Atlantic storms – Ana, Bill and Claudette – so far in 2015. Ana made landfall in South Carolina in May while Bill did likewise a month later in Texas.
Hurricane experts say a massive El Niño effect that’s creating strong wind shear in the upper atmosphere, enhanced sinking motion across the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean and cooler sea surface temperatures than normal is leading to a much quieter hurricane season than normal.
The Volusia-Flagler area hasn’t been hit directly by a hurricane or tropical storm since 2004.
The Atlantic hurricane season started June 1st and ends November 30th.
Graph above of TS Danny is courtesy of NHC.
Copyright 2015 Southern Stone Communications.