Two tropical systems to strike at once? Historic tropical event possible next week

What we know now

Tropical depression 13 and 14 continue to churn in the Atlantic basin Thursday afternoon. Both are expected to become named storms (winds of 39 mph or greater) within the next 24 hours. They would be Laura and Marco.

Official tracks from the National Hurricane Center indicate both storms posing a threat to U.S. soil. What's unique about this is that they both strike nearly alongside each other.

This type of tropical event is extremely rare, and likely hasn't been seen in the United States in nearly 200 years. (We'll talk about that more in a second...)

Records for how early names are being taken continue to be broken too. Laura and Marco will both very likely become the earliest "L" and "M" named storms in the Atlantic in recorded history.

If we get through the rest of the names this season, we will employ the Greek alphabet-- something that hasn't been used since 2005.

History has a story to tell...

I was curious to see if something like this had ever happened before. The only source of reliable information I could find was from a presentation at an American Meteorological Society meeting back in 2016.

The story goes that four hurricanes made landfall in Florida between July 31st and September 1st all the way back in 1837. Relevant to this story were two hurricanes that made simultaneous landfall-- one near Pensacola, FL and the other near what is now modern-day Daytona Beach, FL.

Keep in mind, these rely on written accounts and texts-- not radar or satellite. They're only as good information that we've been provided.

-Luke