Epsilon strengthened into a hurricane Monday night in the central Atlantic, the latest storm in what has been a very active hurricane season. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph and is forecast to move toward Bermuda by Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Epsilon strengthened into a tropical storm earlier Tuesday several hours after forming.
The storm was centered Tuesday night about 545 miles east-southeast of Bermuda, moving at about 13 mph. A slow northward motion is expected during the night, forecasters said, adding that the storm was then expected to take a slightly slower west-northwestward or northwestward motion on Wednesday and Thursday.
The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season has racked up storms at breakneck speed. This season has had so many storms that the Hurricane Center had to turn to the Greek alphabet for storm names after running out of official names.
Epsilon also represents a record for the earliest 26th named storm, beating out November 22 in 2005, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.
Klotzbach said if Epsilon becomes a hurricane by Wednesday, it will be the 10th hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic season to date. Only four years in since 1966 have had at least 10 Atlantic hurricanes by October 21.
TROPICAL UPDATE: As the sun set over the Atlantic this evening, @NOAA's #GOES16🛰️ caught the spinning clouds and #lightning from #TropicalStormEpsilon. According to @NHC_Atlantic, #Epsilon will likely become a hurricane soon. Get the latest: https://t.co/VTAp4gGkHs pic.twitter.com/wOmU0BjZzf
— NOAA Satellites – Public Affairs (@NOAASatellitePA) October 20, 2020