The Atlantic has been quiet since Tropical Storm Victor dissipated in early October. Now, Wanda has broken the calm streak and AccuWeather forecasters are tracking another area for possible development.
Updated Oct. 31, 2021 6:58 PM EDT
A nor'easter that pounded the mid-Atlantic and New England at the start of last week has since drifted out over the open northern Atlantic. But its journey isn't quite complete yet. What's left of the storm has organized into what is now Subtropical Storm Wanda, taking the final name on the list for the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season.
The Atlantic had not had a named storm in its waters since Victor formed over the far eastern part of the basin on Sept. 29 and prowled the open seas until dissipating Oct. 4.
As of late Sunday evening, Wanda was about 900 miles (1,445 km) west of the Azores. It had sustained winds of 50 mph (85 km/h) and was moving to the east at 1 mph (2 km/h).
This satellite image, captured midday Sunday EDT, shows Subtropical Storm Wanda in the Atlantic Ocean (GOES Imagery).
"Wanda is a bit different from some other storms this season like Ida and Henri because Wanda is a subtropical cyclone rather than a tropical one," explained AccuWeather Meteorologist Lauren Hyde.
While tropical storms often develop in warmer waters, subtropical storms will more likely form in relatively lukewarm waters. Another difference between the two types of systems is that subtropical storms do not typically become as intense as tropical storms or hurricanes, though both can bring dangerous impacts like rough seas, damaging winds and flooding rain.
"Environmental conditions are expected to sustain Wanda at subtropical storm strength for the next few days, but are not favorable enough to further strengthen Wanda significantly," said AccuWeather Meteorologist Thomas Geiger.
Fortunately, Wanda is not expected to impact land, though shipping interests should prepare for rough seas in its path.
"Wanda is forecast to take a southeastward turn today before tracking northeastward late Monday or early Tuesday towards cooler waters," explained Geiger.
Elsewhere across the Atlantic, another tropical disturbance near the coast of Africa was being tracked by AccuWeather forecasters. This tropical wave was located several hundred miles southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands and was given a low chance for development during the next 48 hours.
Geiger noted that the development of this wave would be a fairly rare occurrence, as historically tropical cyclones don't typically form south of the Cabo Verde Islands during late October or early November.
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If this wave develops into a tropical storm, it would also likely be the first ever to take a name on the supplemental name list that was instituted in place of the Greek alphabet by the World Meteorological Organization. This new name list was developed after the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season was extremely active, causing the National Hurricane Center (NHC) to dip into the Greek Alphabet in order to name extra storms.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced the Greek alphabet will not be used in the future because doing so "creates a distraction from the communication of hazard and storm warnings and is potentially confusing." The first name on this new list is Adria.
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