Storm season has third-fastest start in more than a century

(Bloomberg) -- Tropical Storm Dolly spun up southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, becoming the Atlantic’s fourth named storm of 2020, marking the third-fastest start to a storm season in more than a century.

The system’s winds reached 45 miles (72 kilometers) per hour about 370 miles southeast of Halifax, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said in a statement at 12:15 p.m. local time. The storm is drifting into the Atlantic Ocean away from land in North America.

di-storm-stock-062420
Palm trees stand near the shore ahead of Hurricane Michael in Panama City Beach, Florida, U.S., on Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2018 Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg

Only 2016 and 2012 produced four Atlantic storms quicker than this year in records going back to 1851, Phil Klotzbach, a storm researcher at Colorado State University, said in a tweet. The season officially runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, and two storms have already struck the U.S.

Many meteorologists have predicted the Atlantic will be active this year, exceeding the long-term average of 12 storms in the six-month season.

Bloomberg News
MORE FROM DIGITAL INSURANCE