Atlantic hurricane season starts June 1 – here’s what forecasters are watching right now
23 hours ago
Charles Rotter
Kristopher Karnauskas, University of Colorado Boulder
As summer in the Northern Hemisphere approaches, forecasters begin watching every bout of rainy weather between the Gulf of Mexico and Africa. Each counterclockwise swirl of wind or burst of puffy clouds there has the potential to organize into a life-threatening tropical storm.
About half of the tropical storms that formed over the past two decades grew into hurricanes, and about half of those became the monsters of coastal destruction we call major hurricanes. We’re now accustomed to seeing about 16 tropical storms per year, though that number can vary quite a bit year to year.
What are the warning signs that we might be in for another record hurricane season like 2020, when 30 tropical storms formed, or a quieter one like 2014, with just eight?
The National Hurricane Center will be issuing its first seasonal forecast of 2021 this week. Here are some of the ingredients forecasters and scientists like myself look for.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/05/19/atlantic-hurricane-season-starts-june-1-heres-what-forecasters-are-watching-right-now/
