Subtropical Storm Teresa formed on Friday north of Bermuda, becoming the 19th named storm of the busy 2021 Atlantic hurricane season.
Unlike tropical storms, subtropical storms do not have the potential to quickly grow into hurricanes, according to the National Weather Service.
Teresa has a small window to “intensify slightly” but it’s more likely to remain a subtropical storm until it dissipates, the National Hurricane Center said.
A developing system forming off New England should absorb Teresa in a day or two, forecasters said. The storm is not expected to threaten land.
The Hurricane Center said Teresa would most likely be the ninth “shortie” — a system that is short-lived and relatively weak — of the hurricane season. Odette, Peter and Rose are recent examples of these kinds of storms.
“There’s been a proliferation of these ‘shorties’ in the last several years, which is primarily due to technological improvements, not man-made or natural climate variability,” Dennis Feltgen, a meteorologist and spokesman for the National Hurricane Center, said in an email.
After Teresa, there are only two names, Victor and Wanda, left on the planned list of 21 storm names. If more storms form, the National Weather Service will move on to a list of supplemental names, only the third time in history — but the second in two straight years — that it has had to do that. The hurricane season officially ends on Nov. 30.
It has been a dizzying couple of months for meteorologists as the arrival of peak hurricane season — August through November — led to a run of named storms that formed in quick succession, bringing flooding and damaging winds to parts of the United States and the Caribbean.
The links between hurricanes and climate change are becoming more apparent. A warming planet can expect stronger hurricanes over time, and a higher incidence of the most powerful storms, though the overall number of storms could drop because factors like stronger wind shear could keep weaker storms from forming.
Hurricanes are also becoming wetter because the warmer atmosphere holds more water vapor. Scientists have suggested that storms such as Hurricane Harvey in 2017 produced far more rain than they would have without the human effects on climate. Also, rising sea levels are contributing to higher storm surge — the most destructive element of tropical cyclones.
Ana became the first named storm of the season on May 23, making this the seventh year in a row that a named storm developed in the Atlantic before the official start of the season on June 1.
In May, scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast that there would be 13 to 20 named storms this year, six to 10 of which would be hurricanes, including three to five major hurricanes of Category 3 or higher in the Atlantic.
NOAA updated its forecast in early August, predicting 15 to 21 named storms, including seven to 10 hurricanes, by the end of the season.
Last year, there were 30 named storms, including six major hurricanes, forcing meteorologists to exhaust the alphabet and move to using Greek letters.
It was the most named storms on record, surpassing the 28 from 2005, and the second-highest number of hurricanes.
Vimal Patel contributed reporting.
