The National Hurricane Center was briefly tracking an area in the Atlantic on Monday, 75 days before the start of hurricane season. FOX Weather Hurricane Specialist Bryan Norcross explains why its so rare to see an area to watch so early in the year.
MIAMI – The internet was a little rattled on Monday when the National Hurricane Center (NHC) flagged an area to watch in the Atlantic Ocean more than two months before the start of hurricane season.
FOX Weather Hurricane Specialist Bryan Norcross said that, based on satellite imagery, the system’s appearance might have been the reason the NHC issued the advisory.
“I think mostly this is just driven by the fact that this looked so much like a potential tropical system yesterday,” Norcross said Tuesday morning.
NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER FLAGS FIRST AREA TO WATCH OF 2025 IN ATLANTIC
This image shows an area of low pressure that was being monitored by the National Hurricane Center as of Monday, March 17, 2025.
(NOAA)
The NHC said the non-tropical area of low pressure was located hundreds of miles northeast of the northern Leeward Islands and had been producing gale-force winds amid a large area of disorganized showers and thunderstorms.
On Tuesday, the conditions for any formation became too hostile, with wind shear ripping apart any chance of a tropical system.
While a March named storm is rare, it has happened before.
This image shows details on an area of low pressure swirling in the Atlantic that had a low chance of development as of Monday, March 17, 2025.
(FOX Weather)
“The only named storm ever to form in March formed in this general area from this kind of a system and moved south toward the Caribbean and actually became a pretty strong storm,” Norcross said. “That was in 1908.”
Norcross said it could have been a different story if the system had moved toward the Caribbean into warmer waters this week.
“If it would make a 1908 move and move south toward the Caribbean, which was not forecast, but if it did that, it would run into relatively warmer temperatures,” he said. “But the water is getting colder; the upper-level winds are hostile. So that’s all we’re going to hear about this system, which is what we would expect this time of year.”
2025 ATLANTIC HURRICANE SEASON GUIDE: HERE’S WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE TROPICS THIS YEAR
The NHC’s early alert shows that it’s never too early to begin preparing for hurricane season.
The Atlantic hurricane season begins on June 1.