Has anybody ever seen a hurricane forming this far north before?

[Recursion]

[roamer65]

1. The climate fun is just beginning.

Wait until we get near 500 ppm.

Nearing 1000 ppm and we will start to see the cognitive impairment effects.

[FakeNoose]

2. I think the main factor is the surface water temperature

... and the warm waters are going farther north this year.

[malaise]

3. Chantal is not expected to become a hurricane but Alberto

was further north according to the experts
https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/2019-08-21-tropical-storm-chantal-atlantic

The formation location of Chantal was at 40.2 degrees north latitude, making it the farthest north a tropical cyclone has formed in the Atlantic since Alberto in 1988, according Dr. Phil Klotzbach, tropical scientist at Colorado State University.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_Atlantic_hurricane_season
Tropical Storm Alberto
Tropical storm (SSHWS)

Duration August 5 – August 8
Peak intensity 40 mph (65 km/h) (1-min) 1002 mbar (hPa)
The season's first named storm originated on August 4 within a weak trough of low pressure that formed off the coast of South Carolina. The next day a low level circulation was detected by satellite, indicating that a tropical depression was forming. By August 6 the storm was designated the second tropical depression of the season.[4] An approaching weak frontal trough pushed the depression northeastward and enhanced its upper-level outflow. On August 7 the system was designated Tropical Storm Alberto at 41.5°N, while located just south of Nantucket, Massachusetts, becoming the northernmost system to intensify into a tropical storm on record.[15][nb 2] The storm accelerated northeastward at 29 mph (47 km/h) and struck western Nova Scotia that evening with little impact.[15][16] On August 8 Alberto became extratropical over the cold waters of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Shortly thereafter it dissipated just north of Newfoundland.[15]

[Recursion]

4. Wow!

Cool, thanks!

[world wide wally]

5. The ocean currents, a big driver of weather patterns, is also being changed.

[pecosbob]

6. Not unprecedented...typically most spawned there don't develop much further

That being said, pressure and temperature differentials are key, particularly warm water. Who knows what southward moving colder polar melt-water might do in creating warmer lower-pressure pockets in the North Atlantic.