MIAMI – Tropical Storm Vince (search) formed Sunday in the far eastern Atlantic, making this hurricane season the second busiest on record, forecasters said.
The 20th named storm of the season formed between the Azores and the Canary Islands in waters that are cooler than what is typically needed for a tropical storm, said Chris Sisko, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center (search) in Miami.
But the storm, which had top sustained winds of about 50 mph, posed no threat to land. That's because it wasn't expected to survive for long due to the cooler waters and other weather systems in the area, Sisko said. Water temperatures are about 73 to 75 degrees, below the 80 degrees usually needed for a tropical storm.
"Vince is a very odd one," he said.
Only one other Atlantic season had more tropical storms and hurricanes since record keeping began in 1851 — there were 21 in 1933.
The hurricane season began June 1 and ends Nov. 30. After Vince, only one name is left for storms this season — Wilma. After that, storms are named after letters in the Greek alphabet. That has never happened before in more than 50 years of regularly naming storms.
This season has been one of the deadliest and costliest in the U.S. in the last century. Hurricane Katrina (search) killed more than 1,100 people on the Gulf Coast and is expected to cause more than $34 billion in insured losses.
At 11 a.m. EDT, Vince's center was located about 515 miles east-southeast of the Azores and about 140 miles northwest of the Madeira Islands. It was moving northeast at about 5 mph.
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