The first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, Danielle which made its debut earlier this week, received its due Friday.
According to the National Hurricane Center’s 11 a.m. ET update, Danielle has become the first hurricane of the season with sustained winds of 75 mph and even faster gusts.
However, given that Danielle is far offshore and won’t arrive on land for at least five days, there is little chance of drama.
The hurricane center predicted that the storm would “meander over the open Atlantic during the next couple of days” before moving to the northeast early next week.
Danielle, according to the hurricane center, will only strengthen to a Category 2 hurricane throughout the weekend.
Danielle became a named storm in the North Atlantic, the first since July 3, according to the hurricane center’s announcement on Thursday.
As a result, August last year was the first without even a single named storm in the Atlantic in over 25 years.
The last time a season’s first hurricane arrived this late was Hurricane Humberto on September 11, 2013.
The first hurricane of the season typically occurs on August 11.
Since 1950, only three Augusts without a named storm in the Atlantic have occurred. According to Colorado State University researcher Phil Klotzbach, the period from July 3 to August 30 saw no named storms in the Atlantic for the first time since 1941.
“This remarkably quiet Atlantic tropical cyclone period is likely to end soon,” Klotzbach said Wednesday.
