He explained that El Niño (a climate cycle in the Pacific Ocean with a global impact on weather patterns which has been causing the drought) is no longer a concern for the season and so it is expected that things are going to be a little bit more troublesome than it was previous year. Past year for instance there were only four hurricanes and seven tropical storms.
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Today, June 1, marks the “official” start of the 2016 Atlantic Hurricane Season which runs through November 30.
In addition, the El Niño is dissipating and NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center is forecasting a 70 percent chance that La Niña – which favours more hurricane activity – will be present during the peak months of hurricane season, August through October.
You might recall, we already had our first hurricane back in January with Hurricane Alex, the first time since Alice in 1955. The forecast also suggests up to eight could become hurricanes, one to four of them category three or higher.
The National Hurricane Center issues a hurricane watch approximately 48 hours before a region can expect to experience hurricane conditions.
Hurricanes are clearly something that Southeast Texans have become familiar with, whether we wanted to or not. The last major hurricane to make landfall on USA coastlines was Hurricane Wilma in October, 2005. Winds at or above 111 miles per hour.
The upcoming hurricane season will be stronger than past year. But forecasters are quick to note that the effects of a fading El Nino in the Pacific is making this year even more hard to predict than usual.
For more information on how to prepare your family and home for hurricane season, check out the National Hurricane Center’s hurricane preparedness site.
In its latest update at the end of last week TSR increased that forecast significantly, calling for the 2016 hurricane season to produce 17 named tropical storms, with 9 becoming hurricanes and 4 intense hurricanes.
Local emergency services officials also advise residents to be prepared for hurricane season.
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Hurricanes are tough to predict, so always be prepared. There’s a chance that none of the named storms will reach our country. However, one of those six named storms was Hurricane Andrew, which devastated Southern Florida as a Category 5 hurricane. On the flip side, there is a 25 percent chance that a below-normal season will occur. That last storm was Hurricane Fran.
