Hurricane Vince was one of the most unusual hurricanes ever to develop in the Atlantic basin, forming in October during the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. Vince was the 20th named tropical cyclone and twelfth hurricane of the extremely active season.
Vince developed from a non-tropical system on October 8, becoming a subtropical storm southeast of the Azores. The National Hurricane Center did not officially name the storm until the next day, shortly before Vince briefly became a hurricane. Vince then made an unprecedented landfall on the Iberian Peninsula on October 11 as a tropical depression, dissipating over Spain and Portugal.
On October 5, an operationally unnamed subtropical storm that had gone unnoticed was absorbed by a non-tropical frontal low, which was moving to the southeast over the Azores. It began to gain a more concentrated circulation and lose its frontal structure after absorbing the Subtropical Storm. The increasingly organized system became a subtropical storm early on October 8, 580 miles (930 km) southeast of the Azores.[1] However, the National Hurricane Center decided not to name the system Vince at the time, because the water temperature was too low for a tropical cyclone to normally develop. Vince gradually gained more tropical characteristics and became a tropical storm the next day, over water cooler than 24°C (75°F), which defies general thought that sea surface temperatures of at least 26.5ºC (80°F) are required for a tropical storm to form and intensify.
Storm path
Soon after it had become a tropical storm on October 9, the NHC officially named Tropical Storm Vince when it was near Madeira and began to issue advisories. There was still some uncertainty as to whether Vince was tropical or subtropical at this time and the forecasters of the NHC conceded that Vince may have already been a subtropical storm before it was named.[2] Vince reached its peak as a hurricane with 75 mph (120 km/h) winds later that day, the National Hurricane Center deciding that "if it looks like a hurricane — it probably is — despite its environment and unusual location".
Radar image of Vince (Portugal doppler radar)
Hurricane Vince immediately began to weaken in response to increasing westerly shear and soon became a tropical storm again. Vince continued to weaken as it approached the Iberian Peninsula and became a tropical depression shortly before it made landfall near Huelva, Spain on October 11. The fast-moving tropical depression soon dissipated over land.
Satellite images
Models forecasting
