El Niño has been hitting the snooze button on Atlantic hurricane season for weeks, largely preventing the basin from waking up and churning up storms, but now it’s been shaken out of its slumber.
Tropical Storm Cristobal formed in the northern Atlantic late Wednesday morning with sustained winds of 45 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. Cristobal sprang to life after having only been given a coin-flip chance of development from the center earlier in the day.
Cristobal is forecast to be short-lived over the open ocean, but it might be joined soon by more of a tropical troublemaker.
The center is still outlooking an area in the tropical Atlantic that has about a 80% or “high” chance of becoming at least a tropical depression late this week. There’s also an area just to the east that has a low chance of development in the coming days.
The next tropical storm that forms anywhere in the basin will be named Dolly.
