Looks like hurricane season came early this year. The National Hurricane Center issued a warning today for Hurricane Alex, which is expected to move over or near the Azores in the eastern Atlantic on Friday morning. It's the first hurricane to be born in January since "Hurricane One" formed on January 4, 1938.
According to the warning, the storm's winds are estimated to be near 85mph, and they could get up to 30 percent stronger once Alex makes landfall. The storm is expected to bring 3 to 5 inches of rain to the Azores through Friday, which could produce life-threatening flash floods and mudslides.
Hurricane season in the Atlantic doesn't officially start until June, which makes such a violent tropical system this early in the year seem pretty strange. Alex's projected path is hundreds of miles from continental Europe or the United States, but it could wreak havoc on eastern Atlantic islands like the Azores, a Portuguese archipelago about 900 miles west of Europe.
Hopefully Alex isn't a sign that 2016 will be a rough year of weather—but we're not holding our breath.