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Peter, Rose Add to Rising Number of 2021 Tropical Storms


Tropical Storm Peter weakens as it passes North of Puerto Rico, Sept. 21, 2021.
Tropical Storm Peter weakens as it passes North of Puerto Rico, Sept. 21, 2021.

Tropical Storms Peter and Rose formed over the past four days in the central Atlantic, and at least so far, they don’t appear to be serious threats to any land mass. But their formation indicates this could be another record-breaking year for Atlantic storms.

At last report, Peter was about 220 kilometers northeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, with maximum winds of about 65 kilometers per hour, which were expected to decrease later Tuesday as it moves north of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

Rose is barely a tropical storm, Sept. 21, 2021.
Rose is barely a tropical storm, Sept. 21, 2021.

Rose, meanwhile, is further east in the Atlantic, about 1,500 kilometers west to northwest of the Cabo Verde Islands, and at last report, was barely a tropical storm.

When Rose formed Sunday, it was 17th named storm to date of the 2021 season. Since the satellite weather forecasting era began in 1966, only two other years have had 17 or more named storms by September 19: 2005, and last year.

The good news is that this year, many of those storms have been weak or short-lived. Meteorologists with the Washington Post’s Capital Weather Gang say that as the season heads into October, conditions for the formation of strong tropical storms are waning in the Atlantic.

But meteorologists say conditions remain favorable for storms to form in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico during that time. Last year, powerful hurricanes Detla and Zeta struck the southern United States in late October, causing millions of dollars’ worth of damage.

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