Tropical Storm Epsilon is expected to strengthen into a hurricane later this week as it barrels northwest in the Atlantic Ocean.
Epsilon is named for the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet because the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season ran out of names. As of Tuesday afternoon, the storm was packing sustained winds of 50 mph, an increase from earlier in the day. It is located southeast of Bermuda and is moving north-northwest at 8 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Forecasts as of Tuesday afternoon show Epsilon strengthening into a hurricane sometime Thursday before making a turn to the northeast, gaining speed, and heading into the cooler open ocean. Bermuda has been placed under a tropical storm watch, with winds from Epsilon potentially affecting the island before the weekend.
The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season is nearly tied for the most active hurricane season in recorded history. The first year to burn through the list of preapproved storm names was 2005, with storms continuing to the letter Zeta, the sixth letter in the Greek alphabet. This year’s Epsilon is the earliest storm to be the 26th name in history. The season is two storms away from edging out 2005’s record-shattering season and becoming the most active season in history.
Another Greek-letter storm recently made headlines when Hurricane Delta plowed its way into Louisiana as a Category 2 hurricane earlier this month. The hurricane brought further damage to the area where Hurricane Laura came through just six weeks prior.
Hybrid cyclone #Epsilon — an increasingly tropical core within a larger extratropical system pic.twitter.com/IiN61mm1iL
— Stu Ostro (@StuOstro) October 20, 2020
