Subtropical Storm Melissa forms; 2 blobs in tropics

A new named storm and two systems in the tropics. Reminders that hurricane season lasts until the end of November.

Subtropical Storm Melissa formed Friday off New England, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Essentially, thunderstorms have wrapped themselves around the nor’easter that has been snarling the weather from New York to Boston.

“It is called a ‘subtropical’ storm because it is a hybrid — part nor’easter and part tropical system. It is a distinction without a difference in terms of the weather along the coast,” according to WPLG-Ch. 10 weather specialist Bryan Norcross.

The change in the storm’s designation is not changing its effect on the weather in and around New England.

“It is already producing storm-force winds, and is expected to continue meandering off the coast through tonight, producing strong winds, coastal flooding, heavy rainfall, and rough surf along portions of the mid-Atlantic and northeastern United States coasts,” the hurricane center said.

On Friday afternoon, Subtropical Storm Melissa was located about 210 miles south of Nantucket, Massachusetts, with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph as it crawled toward the southwest at 3 mph.

The forecast track has the storm speeding up and moving away from the east coast of the U.S. and weaken to a depression weekend.

Meanwhile, a tropical disturbance is expected to form over the western Caribbean Sea during the weekend and is forecast to move westward toward Central America early next week. There’s only a 20% chance of formation over the next five days.

And a tropical wave is forecast to move off the west coast of Africa on Sunday. Tropical cyclone formation this late in the hurricane season is unlikely in the far eastern Atlantic, but some development of this system appears possible early next week while it moves northwestward toward the Cabo Verde Islands. The formation chance is 20% over five days. over the