Tropical Storm Fay gains temporary strength in distant Atlantic, NHC says

Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel on Sep 21, 2026

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ORLANDO, Fla. — Tropical Storm Fay continued to churn Monday even gaining some forecast short steam in the far eastern Atlantic, according to the National Hurricane Center.

As of the NHC’s 5 a.m. advisory, the center of the storm was located about 405 miles southwest of the Azores moving south-southeast at 2 mph with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph, up from 45 mph on Sunday.

“A faster motion to the southwest is anticipated during the next few days,” forecasters said. “Continued weakening is forecast, and Fay coulddegenerate to a post-tropical cyclone in a day or two.”

Tropical-storm-force winds extend out up to 80 miles from its center.

It is no threat to land.

The system became the sixth named storm of this slow Atlantic hurricane season.

So far the hurricane season has yet to produce an actual hurricane, though, but has seen the formation of tropical storms Arthur, Bertha, Cristobal, Dolly and Edouard.

Edouard made landfall in Louisiana with the NHC’s last advisory coming on Sept. 3 as it moved inland over Texas.

It’s been quiet in the tropics since then.

Hurricane season began June 1 and runs through Nov. 30, but the height of hurricane season runs from mid-August through mid-October.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last month updated its seasonal forecast and now expects between seven and 13 named storms this year. Of those, two to six would become hurricanes. It also predicted that there might not be any major hurricanes this year, or at most two.

Already, 2026 was forecast to have lower-than-average storm generation, and that has been reduced even further with the latest forecasts from the NOAA and other weather groups.

An average year would see 14 named storms and seven hurricanes, with three of those growing to Category 3 strength or higher.

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