Tropical Storm Josephine forms; no warnings in effect

MIAMI — Tropical Storm Josephine formed in the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday morning, making it the earliest “J-named” storm in a record-setting hurricane season.

Josephine was located 760 miles (1,220 kilometres) east-southeast of the northern Leeward Islands, according to the 11 p.m. advisory from the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. It was moving west-northwest with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (72 kph).

No coastal watches or warnings were in effect.

Josephine was the earliest tenth Atlantic named storm on record, breaking the previous record of Jose, which formed Aug. 22, 2005, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach.

So far this year, Cristobal, Danielle, Edouard, Fay, Gonzalo, Hanna and Isaias have also set records for being the earliest named Atlantic storms of their respective place in the alphabet. Only Hanna and Isaias this year have developed into hurricanes.

Isaias killed two people in the Caribbean earlier this month. Several others across multiple U.S. states were then killed when the storm made landfall in North Carolina and moved through the East Coast, leading to floods, tornadoes, fires, and widespread power outages.

Last month, Hurricane Hanna slammed the Texas Gulf Coast with high winds and rains that flooded streets and knocked out power across the region.

The Associated Press