Hurricane Alex, a Rare January Storm, Forms in the Atlantic

The first January-born hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean since 1938 formed on Thursday, and headed toward Portugal’s Azores islands.

Hurricane Alex strengthened from a tropical storm into a Category 1 hurricane on Thursday morning, with winds of up to 85 miles per hour and an eye that stretched 15 miles across by about 1 p.m. Eastern, said Dennis Feltgen, a National Hurricane Center meteorologist.

Hurricanes in the Atlantic are rare this time of year, with the season normally spanning June through November.

The last time meteorologists saw a hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean in January was in 1955, when one named “Alice” carried over from the previous month.

But the emergence of Hurricane Alex is the first time since 1938 that a hurricane has formed in January in the Atlantic, according to the hurricane center, which has records going back to 1851.