Hurricane Sally Churns Toward U.S.; Record-Tying 5 Cyclones

MIAMI, FL — Sally pulled away from South Florida as a tropical storm over the weekend and became a full-fledged hurricane Monday as weather officials at one point were monitoring a record-tying five tropical cyclones from the Gulf to the far Atlantic.

"We are not forecasting the center of Sally to make landfall in the Florida panhandle," Dennis Feltgen of the National Hurricane Center told Patch Monday morning. "As of now, it looks like it will be Mississippi."

At one point Monday morning, the National Hurricane Center issued advisories on five tropical cyclones over the Atlantic basin.

"This ties the record that was set in September 1971," Feltgen said.

The slow-moving Sally was churning over the north-central Gulf of Mexico with maximum sustained winds of around 90 mph and higher gusts. It was about 75 miles east-southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River and about 115 miles south-southeast of Biloxi, Mississippi, as of 2 a.m. Tuesday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Hurricane Paulette was 275 miles north-northeast of Bermuda. Tropical Depression Rene had been over the central Atlantic for a time Monday but fizzled out by the end of the day. Tropical Storm Teddy was over the east-central tropical Atlantic. Tropical Storm Vicky was over the eastern tropical Atlantic.

Weather forecasters were monitoring three other disturbances as of early Tuesday.

With the arrival of Vicky, only one name is left — Wilfred — for the remainder of the hurricane season, which runs through Nov. 30. After that, storms will be named with the Greek alphabet, a practice that would be followed for the first time since 2005 —the year of Emily, Katrina, Rita and Wilma. The Greek alphabet names begin with Alpha and would be followed by Beta and Gamma.

Thursday marked the statistical peak of the Atlantic hurricane season, and 2020 has more than lived up to expectations for a busier-than-normal year.