ORLANDO, Fla. — Why are some storms considered "subtropical" and others "tropical"?

A subtropical storm is similar to a tropical storm in that it develops over the open ocean waters and, like a tropical storm, it has winds of at least 39 mph.

However, unlike a tropical system, a subtropical storm isn’t well-organized.

The thunderstorms associated with subtropical systems and the strongest winds are found farther away from the center of storm. Also, subtropical storms are cold-core weather systems, while tropical storms and hurricanes are warm-core.

The National Hurricane Center started giving names to these types of storms in 2002. Before then they were simply given numbers for identification.

You may remember Alberto in 2018 was a subtropical storm when it moved through portions of Florida in late May. Beryl was a hurricane and it then weakened into a remnant area of low pressure before redeveloping into a subtropical storm. Debby was also classified as a subtropical storm.