On August 13, thunderstorm activity associated with a broad area of low pressure near the North Carolina coastline showed some evidence of spin on radar imagery, though heavy rain remained offshore. Surprisingly, the disturbance quickly gained organization: the center of circulation moved offshore overnight and convection developed near the center of circulation. Some easterly shear kept the developing vortex a little tilted, but the system was strong enough to be designated Tropical Storm Kyle that afternoon. At that time, it was accelerating east-northeastward away from the coastline. Kyle continued piling on the named storm records for 2020; it was the earliest "K" storm, replacing Katrina of 2005, which formed on August 24 of that year.
The system was not very organized, as the center remained west of any thunderstorm activity. Further, upper-level winds caused the circulation to elongate east to west. Despite these difficulties, the warm Gulf Stream waters fueled some stronger sustained winds overnight, bringing them to 50 mph. Wind shear continued to increase and Kyle began extratropical transition that afternoon. The vorticity was so stretched out that additional deep convection overnight could not stall this transformation. The storm lost tropical status early on August 16. Within a few days, the remnants of Kyle merged with another extratropical low. The combined system strengthened explosively over the northeast Atlantic on August 18 and ultimately brought gale force winds to western Europe.
The above images shows Kyle just after classification as a tropical storm on August 14.
Despite forming close to land, Kyle moved quickly out to sea and did not have any impacts on land as a tropical cyclone.
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