Tropical Storm Cristobal, the third named storm of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, formed over the southwestern Gulf of Mexico Tuesday afternoon, according to AccuWeather.
With the upgrade to tropical storm status, a new record has been set for the Atlantic basin. Cristobal has has now become the earliest occurrence of a third named system in the Atlantic basin during any hurricane season in recorded history. The 2016 season previously held the record for the earliest-ever third tropical storm, and it was Tropical Storm Colin, which formed on June 5, that helped that year go down in the history books.
The name Cristobal was most recently used in 2014. That year, Cristobal did not form until late August. The same list of names is used every six years, unless a storm is unusually strong or deadly.
The water is in the Gulf of Mexico is plenty warm enough to support further tropical strengthening. Sea surface temperatures were in the low- to mid-80s F in the Bay of Campeche, the region where the storm was spinning, as of Tuesday. Wind shear, or the shifting of winds with altitude, is low over the southwestern Gulf of Mexico -- yet another factor that favors strengthening of the system.