We may have to stare down yet another active Atlantic hurricane season this year.
Tropical weather experts at Colorado State University (CSU) released their much-anticipated seasonal outlook on Thursday. The outlook isn’t good news for folks who live along the Atlantic’s coastlines–all signs point to another above-average hurricane season across the basin.
ANOTHER ABOVE-AVERAGE SEASON IS LIKELY ON THE WAY
The Atlantic hurricane season officially runs from June 1 through November 30, though it’s common to see named storms form before June 1.
A typical Atlantic hurricane season produces about 14 named tropical storms, with seven of those systems strengthening into hurricanes, and about three of those hurricanes growing into major hurricanes of at least category three strength on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.
CSU’s forecast calls for quite a few storms this season. The team expects about 19 named tropical storms to form across the Atlantic Ocean, with nine of those storms becoming hurricanes and four of those hurricanes reaching major hurricane strength.
The outlook adds that there’s a high likelihood–almost a three-in-four chance–of a major hurricane making landfall somewhere along the U.S. coastline at some point this hurricane season.
LA NIÑA IS FAVOURABLE FOR TROPICAL CYCLONES IN THE ATLANTIC
Signs that we could see another energetic hurricane season include warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures in portions of the Atlantic Ocean, and the fact that the Pacific Ocean is in a La Niña pattern right now. Forecasters expect La Niña to weaken to neutral conditions by the heart of hurricane season, which is favourable to enhanced activity across the Atlantic basin.
