Hurricane season not over yet: Sebastien forecast to become rare November hurricane in Atlantic

Hurricane season isn't quite over.

Tropical Storm Sebastien, spinning in the Atlantic Ocean about 1,200 miles east of Miami, was forecast to strengthen into a hurricane on Friday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Fortunately, the system – rare for so late in the season – poses no threat to land, the hurricane center said.

As of 4 p.m. EST Thursday, Sebastien had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph. A tropical storm becomes a hurricane when its winds reach 74 mph.

If it reaches that wind speed, Sebastien would become the seventh hurricane of the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season, which officially comes to an end Nov. 30.

It would become the first "S" hurricane in the Atlantic since infamous Sandy in 2012, AccuWeather said.

The Atlantic has had 18 named storms in the 2019 hurricane season, including Sebastien, the Weather Channel said. The last time 18 or more named storms formed in a season was 2012.

After peaking in strength before the end of the week, what is left of Sebastien will approach the Azores Saturday night and Sunday.

"By the time Sebastien reaches the Azores later this weekend, winds may be barely tropical storm or gale force," AccuWeather hurricane expert Dan Kottlowski said.

Hurricanes are rare in the Atlantic this late in the season, the Weather Channel said.

Only seven hurricanes have formed in the Atlantic after Nov. 20 since 1966, said Phil Klotzbach, a tropical scientist at Colorado State University. That's an average of one hurricane forming after Nov. 20 every seven to eight years.

The most recent Atlantic hurricane to develop after Nov. 20 was Otto in 2016.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tropical Storm Sebastien forecast to become a hurricane in Atlantic