Season's 1st Hurricane Forms, Barely Misses Record

Had Hurricane Humberto—the first hurricane of the Atlantic season—hit just about three hours later, it would have set a new record for the latest first hurricane to form in the Atlantic Ocean. Alas, Humberto's dreams of meteorological infamy were dashed when its winds reached a sustained 75mph around 5am ET, making it just another hurricane, reports CNN.

It won't even have the chance to do much damage—it's currently about 310 miles off West Africa's Cape Verde Islands, and is expected to turn into a piddling tropical storm over the weekend. The record holder continues to be 2002's Hurricane Gustav, which was named a bit after 8am on Sept. 11 of that year, reports AccuWeather. The year's first hurricane is generally named by Aug. 10, notes the Miami Herald. Hurricane season wraps up Nov. 30; three to six major hurricanes have been predicted. (More hurricane stories.)