TS Colin is earliest named ‘C' storm on record, breaking 1887 mark

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Tropical Storm Colin is speeding past the Outer Banks after bringing rain and heavy winds.

Colin is the season’s third named storm with only a week into hurricane season.

It’s the earliest name “C” storm on record.

Bonnie and Colin formed in the Gulf and in the Bahamas. If storms start firing up there in the east Atlantic, where the water takes longer to warm up, then there’s a problem.

Meteorologist John Ahrens spoke with renowned hurricane expert Dr. Phil Klotzbach via Skype. He’s not changing his forecast of 14 named storms.

“Given what I’ve been looking at the past few weeks, (it's) probably an average season,” Klotzbach said. “If you look back in history, like back in 2012, (it) was one of the quietest hurricane seasons ever. We had two storms in June.”

What’s helping this fast start to the season appears to be the absence of El Nino. El Nino produces strong winds that can rip storms apart. With El Nino gone, storms are able to grow.

Yet, what may slow the season down over time is the situation out in the eastern Atlantic, where much colder water is pouring in from the north. This could limit the opportunity for a large storm to get started.

“Some of the coldest water we have seen and the eastern part of the Atlantic is quiet cold,” Klotzbach said.

While Ahrens said it’s not expected to be a busy year, those who have lived through hurricanes know it takes one.

“We were without power for eight days,” Matt Stephenson said. “We had groundwater, so we had to fill the toilet with water, had to get tubs up with water.”

“You don’t know what you’re going to run into,” Jay Doolittle said. “You might get downed trees, may not have electricity for some time.”

Regardless of how it turns out, 2016 is in the record books due to Colin. It smashes the record set in 1887.

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