Hurricane Season 09

June 1 marks the first official day of the hurricane season.  We sometimes do see storms this early in the season, as you can see in the graphic.  Typically these storms aren't very strong, and the early onset of a season is not a reliable indicator as to the severity of the season.  Take 2004 for example.  The first named storm occurred on August 1, two months into the season.  However, things stayed active for the entire season.  Six of the hurricanes that season were major hurricanes, including the bigger storms of Charlie and Ivan.   You compare that to 2007, which started very early.  After a storm several weeks before the official start of the season, we only saw 2 major hurricanes the rest of the season, both of which missed the US mainland. 

As far as what to expect, everybody seems to be leaning towards an average year.  Everybody seems to be expecting an El Nino pattern to develop by late season, which could hinder the storm development by introducing more shear into the Atlantic basin.  This year has seen one depression which was well out to sea this past week, and nothing going on right now.

We'll be following the season and I'll try blogging at least once a week or more if needs be.  In the meantime, if you're a tropics nut like me, you need to read Dr. Masters' blog from weatherunderground.  I read this every day and he goes very in depth into each storm and the history of storms.  A must read.

Steve on Twitter

I used to blog a lot more, trying to blog once a day.  In all honesty, it's just far too busy now to do that.  However, I figure I'd drop a line or two on twitter a day about the forecast.  I may drop in random thoughts as well.  If you want to follow me and get a line or two about the forecast every day, I'm at twitter.com/stevemilone.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Steve Milone / FOX 5 Weather Authority

twitter.com/stevemilone