Invest 90-C Could Become Rare January Tropical Storm in Central Pacific

Quincy Vagell
Published: January 6,2016

January is not typically a month in which tropical systems develop in the central Pacific, but a tropical disturbance, dubbed "Invest 90-C," could become a tropical depression or tropical storm within the next couple of days.
This is on the heels of a historically active 2015 tropical season in the Pacific Ocean, including a Tropical Depression Nine-C, which formed near the end of the year and dissipated on Jan. 1, 2016.
(MORE: 11 Things We Remember About the 2015 Tropics)
Invest 90-C was located just over 1,500 miles southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii as of Wednesday morning local time.
Sufficiently warm sea-surface temperatures and relatively low wind shear in the vicinity of the system suggest that Invest 90-C may be able to organize into a full-fledged tropical cyclone by the end of the week.
The system would get the central Pacific name "Pali" if it reaches tropical storm status east of the International Date Line, poses no immediate threat to land.

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According to The Weather Channel hurricane specialist Michael Lowry, 90-C "has the potential of becoming the earliest eastern or central Pacific tropical cyclone on record."
Dating back to 1949, only two tropical storms have formed in the central Pacific in the month of January. Tropical Storm Winona was the first on Jan. 13, 1989 and the second was Ekeka on Jan. 28, 1992, which reached Category 3 hurricane intensity amidst the moderate El Niño of 1991-92.
(MORE: How May El Niño Impact Hurricane Season?)
If this potential Pacific tropical system weren't strange enough, the Brazilian Navy Hydrographic Center's Serviço Meteorológico Marinho has analyzed a tropical depression off the east coast of Brazil in the South Atlantic. It's just another rarity in what has been an odd last couple of weeks in the tropics.
(MORE: Tropical Depression Forms Off Brazil Coast)
The official hurricane season ends on November 30 in the central Pacific and does not begin in 2016 until June 1.
MORE: Late Season Hurricanes