Tropical storm Edouard forms in Atlantic, no U.S. landfall threat

The fifth named storm of the 2014 Atlantic Tropical Storm & Hurricane Season has formed in the Atlantic, but forecasters don’t predict any impact to the U.S. with tropical storm Edouard likely to curve northwards in the mid-Atlantic ocean.

Conditions in Edouard’s path are becoming more conducive for development and the tropical storm, which currently has maximum sustained winds of 40mph is expected to strengthen and some forecasters suggest we could see hurricane Edouard in the next few days.

That would be quite unusual. Five named tropical storms and five reaching hurricane status, but without posing any significant threat to land, would be very unusual for a season. The 2014 hurricane season continues to be benign, in terms of insurance and reinsurance industry losses, although if Edouard does become a hurricane it may be heading for a reasonable level of activity in terms of storm intensification.

So Edouard is expected to slowly strengthen as it heads northwest through the Atlantic before a turn towards the north is expected. Forecasters note that residents in Bermuda and the Azores should both keep an eye on Edouard, as the models are a little uncertain as to how far west or east the storm will track.

We’ll update you if the forecast suggests Edouard may threaten landfall anywhere and you can keep track of the storm at all times on our 2014 Atlantic Tropical Storm & Hurricane Season page.

The forecast track from the NOAA is shown below:

Tropical storm Edouard forecast path or track

The forecast path and intensity from Weather Underground can be seen below:

Tropical storm Edouard forecast path and intensity - Source: Weather Underground