"Damage from Josephine has closed the only highway to North Carolina’s Outer Banks; king tide flooding is predicted to bring some of the highest water levels of the past 10 years to portions of the Southeast U.S. early next week."
"Subtropical Storm Josephine formed late Wednesday afternoon several hundred miles south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and is forecast to continue intensifying as it moves away from the United States, remaining south of Nova Scotia. Josephine became the 10th named system of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season and the first subtropical storm to develop this season. This year’s tally for the Atlantic now stands at 10 named storms, one hurricane, one major hurricane, and an accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) index of 19, which is 17% of average for the date. Four of this year’s named storms have hit the U.S., with two of them being billion-dollar storms. One of them, Isaias, was a hurricane. On average, the U.S. sees three named storms make landfall during a season, with two of them being hurricanes.
A subtropical storm has both tropical and non-tropical (extratropical) characteristics. Subtropical storms usually derive their energy from a combination of ocean heat and temperature differences in the atmosphere. Unlike tropical systems, which typically have their strongest winds closer to the center, subtropical storms concentrate their strongest winds farther from the center. Subtropical storms also often have a warm core in the lower atmosphere, along with hybrid characteristics, and thunderstorms are usually displaced well away from the center.
The National Hurricane Center’s 11 a.m. AST update shows Josephine moving northeast at 12 mph (19 km/h), with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 km). It is forecast to intensify to hurricane force while transitioning into an extratropical system, becoming wider and expanding its wind field, which would bring stronger maximum sustained winds to Nova Scotia on Friday as Josephine moves south of the area. Note that even if its sustained winds do reach hurricane strength, Josephine would not be designated a hurricane unless its structure were to morph from subtropical to tropical, which is not expected."
Irene Sans, Bob Henson and Jeff Masters report for Yale Climate Connections October 22, 2026.
