A hurricane has formed in the Atlantic - in the middle of January

A rare January hurricane formed far out in the Atlantic is the first to form during the month since 1938, US officials say.

Hurricane Alex’s maximum sustained winds were near 85 mph. A hurricane warning was issued for Portugal’s mid-Atlantic Azores islands, where the Civil Protection Service issued a weather red alert, the highest of four warnings that indicates extreme risk, for five of the archipelago’s nine islands.