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Edouard downgraded to post-tropical cyclone

By Alex Sosnowski, Accuweather.com
Tropical Storm Edouard is seen Monday about 430 miles southeast of Newfoundland, Canada. It was the earliest fifth named storm since the satellite era of the 1960s and 1970s. Image courtesy of NOAA/NHC
Tropical Storm Edouard is seen Monday about 430 miles southeast of Newfoundland, Canada. It was the earliest fifth named storm since the satellite era of the 1960s and 1970s. Image courtesy of NOAA/NHC

July 6 (UPI) -- Tropical Storm Edouard was downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone on Monday after making history when it formed in the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday night -- well away from land -- as the earliest fifth named storm on record.

In its 5 p.m. EDT update Monday, Edouard was situated 445 miles southeast of Cape Race, Newfoundland, Canada, and was tracking northeast at a brisk pace of 38 mph with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph.

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The storm that would become Edouard, Tropical Depression Five, formed a few hundred miles southwest of Bermuda at midday Saturday. It passed to the north and west of Bermuda early Sunday before strengthening into a tropical storm.

Rain and wind have died down across Bermuda as Edouard moved well to the northeast of the islands.

"The feature is not a threat to the U.S. and Canada as steering winds are taking the feature away from North America," AccuWeather senior meteorologist Rob Miller said.

The depression that became Edouard formed in a broad area of lower atmospheric pressure, moisture and low wind shear relative to much of the Atlantic basin and has caught AccuWeather meteorologists' eyes in the past couple of weeks.

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Wind shear is the change in the flow of air at different layers of the atmosphere and over the horizontal area just above the sea surface. Strong wind shear can lead to the demise of established hurricanes and tropical storms and prevent the development of tropical systems in general.

The previous earliest fifth named tropical storm on record since the satellite era of the 1960s and 1970s was Emily from the blockbuster 2005 hurricane season. Emily became a named storm July 12 and became a powerful and deadly Category 5 hurricane that tracked through the Caribbean.

The next names on the list for the 2020 Atlantic season are Fay, Gonzalo and Hanna.

The earliest sixth named tropical storm on record in the Atlantic is Franklin, which also came to life during the 2005 season.

It is not uncommon, though, for lull in tropical activity to occur during July and early August after an active spring.

Conditions typically ramp up during late August and September as the strength of disturbances moving west off Africa, called tropical waves, tends to peak, combined with water temperatures climbing to peak values for the year.

AccuWeather is projecting a busy season ahead with 14 to 20 named tropical storms, with seven to 11 hurricanes and four to six major hurricanes. Four tropical storms already are in the books, with one U.S. landfall.

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Cristobal became the earliest "C" named storm in recorded history for the Atlantic on June 2, a feat that typically does not occur until around the middle of August.

The storm went on to crash ashore along the U.S. Gulf Coast, where it unleashed flooding.

Dolly was the second-earliest "D" named storm ever in the basin, but it moved out to sea without impacting land.

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