The 2023 Atlantic hurricane season was set to officially begin in less than a month, but it looks like the season already kicked off in January and we didn't even realize it.

That's because the National Hurricane Center just reported that a subtropical storm actually formed not too long after the calendar flipped to 2023.

What You Need To Know

  • A subtropical storm formed in mid-January

  • It formed off the U.S. Northeast coast

  • It remained subtropical and did not receive a name

  • The next storm that forms will become Tropical Depression Two

During routine reassessment of weather systems by the NHC, they found the subtropical storm formed in mid-January off the coast of the Northeast U.S.

A subtropical storm shares some characteristics with a tropical storm, except it’s usually asymmetrical and has a cold-core, unlike tropical storms and hurricanes which have warm cores. 

If the next storm that forms begins as a tropical depression, the NHC will designate it as Tropical Depression Two, since the January storm was the first in 2023. If that depression becomes a tropical storm, it will become the first name on this year's list, Arlene. 

The last time we had a January storm was in 2016, when Hurricane Alex formed in the Atlantic Ocean. Even though hurricane season doesn’t start until June, storms can form any time of the year.

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