Tropical Storm Alex has formed in the Atlantic ocean. It is not entirely unprecedented to have a tropical storm form totally off season like this, but it is very rare. This happened mainly because of record high sea surface temperatures in the region.

The sea surface temperature is not enough to make a hurricane. But you know what they say about the weather — under conditions of global warming — wait a few years and that will happen.

Increasingly the world’s oceans are losing track of their tropical storm seasons. Expect a future where tropical cyclones (hurricanes, etc.) can form over a much larger area and across a much longer range of time.

I usually don’t post this until June or so, but since the first storm of the year happened about six months early … this is the list of storm names for the Atlantic Basin, staring with the one currently in use.

Alex (active)
Bonnie (unused)
Colin (unused)
Danielle (unused)
Earl (unused)
Fiona (unused)
Gaston (unused)
Hermine (unused)
Ian (unused)
Julia (unused)
Karl (unused)
Lisa (unused)
Matthew (unused)
Nicole (unused)
Otto (unused)
Paula (unused)
Richard (unused)
Shary (unused)
Tobias (unused)
Virginie (unused)
Walter (unused)

Alex is not expected to turn into a hurricane.