Soon after it became a tropical storm on 9 October near Madeira, with a ragged eye already present, the NHC officially named it Tropical Storm Vince and began to issue advisories. At the time there was some uncertainty as to whether Vince was tropical or subtropical but, in his post-season analysis, forecaster James L. Franklin of the NHC conceded that Vince had formed as a subtropical storm and had evolved into a tropical storm before it was named. The storm's ragged eye quickly solidified and contracted into a "bona fide" eye with a diameter of . This increase in organization was accompanied by strengthening, and Vince reached its peak strength as a hurricane with winds later that day. The NHC forecasters decided that "if it looks like a hurricane, it probably is, despite its environment and unusual location".