Tropical Storm Ophelia Forms

TAMPA, FL — Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center can’t seem to get a break. Just as the system that once was Hurricane Nate began to fizzle out near Pennsylvania and New York on Monday, Tropical Storm Ophelia officially formed in the Atlantic Ocean.

Ophelia is the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season’s 15th named storm. The system was located about 860 miles west-southwest of the Azores by Monday morning. Although packing maximum sustained winds of 40 mph, the system posed no immediate threats to land. Moving north-northwest at 5 mph, Ophelia isn’t expected to threaten land anytime soon. Even so, forecasters do expect the storm to reach hurricane status by Friday while remaining in the Atlantic Ocean, far away from the U.S. mainland. (For more weather and local news from Florida, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Tampa Patch, and click here to find your local Florida Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Whether Ophelia will eventually threaten land remains too soon to tell.

Meanwhile, hurricane center forecasters downgraded Nate to a post-tropical cyclone by Monday morning. The system was rapidly making its way through several northern states, moving northeast at 45 mph while packing maximum sustained winds of only 15 mph.

While not very threatening on Monday, Nate created a swath of devastation across the Gulf Coast when it made landfall not once, but twice, on Saturday as a hurricane. The storm, which early in its life caused nearly two dozen deaths in Central America, brushed southeast Louisiana about 7 p.m. local time Saturday as a Category 1 hurricane, and then moved on to Mississippi, where it made a second landfall around 12:30 a.m. near Biloxi. Storm surges of up to 6 feet were reported in some communities, including Biloxi, Mississippi, and Mobile, Alabama.

While it’s too early to tell if Ophelia will have any impacts on major landmasses, the storm’s formation serves as a reminder the season is far from over. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30 each year. Average seasons produce about 12 named storms, of which six become hurricanes. Three of the hurricanes are generally deemed major.

Residents readying for the ongoing season can get tips and advice on the federal government’s Ready.gov website.

Graphic courtesy of the National Hurricane Center