Tropical Storm Gonzalo formed Thursday in the far eastern Atlantic Ocean, becoming the latest cyclone in what has generally been a quiet 2026 Atlantic hurricane season.

Gonzalo is expected to bring gusty winds and heavy rainfall to the Cabo Verde Islands off the coast of Africa as it moves over the island chain.

Computer forecast models are in near-complete agreement that Gonzalo will stay closer to Africa than the United States, and perhaps more notably, will stay below hurricane strength.

The Atlantic basin has yet to produce a hurricane in 2026, despite the fact that the climatological peak of the season occurred on Sept. 10.

During an average season, the first Atlantic hurricane develops around Aug. 11, and by late September, the basin would typically have already produced several hurricanes, including major hurricanes with winds of at least 115 mph.

Increasing vertical wind shear, cooler water temperatures and drier air are expected to keep Gonzalo from ever reaching the 74-mph hurricane threshold.

Gonzalo is not the only named storm in the Atlantic, as forecasters continue to track Tropical Storm Fay.

Fay continues to meander over the central Atlantic, between Bermuda and the Azores - safely far away from any landmasses.

The tropical storm is forecast to weaken and fall apart over the central Atlantic over the next week.

With both tropical storms expected to stay rather weak, the Atlantic basin's hurricane tally will remain at zero through the final days of September.

Even during an El Niño year, the lack of hurricanes is unusual because September is typically the most active month for powerful storm systems in the Atlantic.

The basin remains in the running for being the only season in the modern era not to have a hurricane and only the third season since records began being kept in the late-1800s.

The next named storm in the Atlantic basin will be Hanna, but computer forecast models do not show a significant tropical cyclone developing in the Gulf, Caribbean or Atlantic during at least the next 10 days.

And while the Atlantic season has been tepid, activity across the eastern and central Pacific has been hyperactive, with nine hurricanes and five of those becoming major hurricanes.

Several of the cyclones have even posed threats to Hawaii and Mexico, something that does not occur every year.

The Atlantic basin hurricane season officially runs through the end of November, meaning there is still time to see cyclone development.