© NHC/NOAA The forecasted path and intensity of Hurricane Kenneth over the next five days.
A rare mid-November hurricane has formed in the eastern Pacific Ocean and could be followed by an equally rare tropical storm in the Atlantic basin.
Tropical Storm Kenneth became a hurricane today (Nov. 21) after first forming as a tropical depression on Saturday.
Though the
official hurricane seasons for both the eastern Pacific and Atlantic last until Nov. 30, it is rare for storms to form this late in the year, as tropical ocean waters are cooler than they are at the height of the season in August and September and therefore less likely to fuel the storms.
The average number of tropical storms seen in November between the years 1851 and 2010 amounted to half a storm; the average number of hurricanes is only 0.3, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The last Atlantic hurricane to form in November was 2009's hurricane Ida. Hurricane Tomas was still swirling in the Atlantic as of Nov. 7 last year, though it formed in October.
The latest a hurricane has ever been observed in the Atlantic basin was the second Hurricane Alice of the 1954 season, spotted on Dec. 31, according to the NHC. The latest hurricane to hit the United States was a storm that made landfall near Tampa, Fla., on Nov. 30, 1925 (this occurred before
storms received names).
