Tropical Storm Fay in distant Atlantic while NHC tracks new system

Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel on Sep 21, 2026

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Tropical Storm Fay continued to churn Monday in the far eastern Atlantic but showed signs of weakening as the National Hurricane Center began forecasting chances for a new system to form off the coast of Africa.

As of the NHC’s 5 p.m. EDT advisory, the center of Fay was located about 445 miles southwest of the Azores moving south-southwest at 3 mph with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph, down from a high of 65 mph earlier Monday.

“A gradual turn toward the southwest and west is expected during the next few days,” forecasters said. “Continued weakening is forecast, and Fay is likely to degenerate into a post-tropical remnant low by late Tuesday.”

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

It is no threat to land.

The NHC, in its 2 p.m. tropical outlook, also began forecasting that a tropical wave would move off the western coast of Africa by Wednesday.

“Development, if any, of this system should be slow to occur while it moves near the Cape Verde Islands later this week,” forecasters said,

The NHC gave it a 20% chance to develop in the next seven days.

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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