By Brian Lada From Accuweather.com

Alex has become a hurricane near the Azores in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

It marks the first Atlantic hurricane to form in the month of January since 1938 and is the first Atlantic hurricane to exist during January since Alice in 1955.

Alex formed in the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday, making it one of the earliest tropical systems to form in the Atlantic Hurricane Basin since records began in 1851.

“A subtropical storm has both tropical and non-tropical characteristics and has a large wind field,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dan Kottlowski.

A small eye formed in the system during early Thursday, local time.

Alex has made the transition from a part tropical and non-tropical system to a full-featured tropical system.

Alex is located well in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and doesn’t pose a threat to the United States; however, it will affect the Azores. According to Kottlowski, Alex will bring damaging winds and the risk of flooding to the Azores with the worst conditions late Thursday night through Friday morning, local time.

(Image/National Hurricane Center)

For more on this story go to: http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/tropical-storm-hurricane-alex-atlantic-ocean/54776482