Near end of 2018 hurricane season

The Atlantic hurricane season officially runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, but if history is an indication, it’s not time to let down the guard. In eight of the past 10 years, a tropical storm or hurricane has formed in the Atlantic basin in November.

The latest a storm has made landfall on the continental United States with hurricane-force winds was Hurricane Kate on Nov. 21, 1985. That Category-2 storm struck the Florida Panhandle — near Mexico Beach, of all places — a week before Thanksgiving.

Conditions won’t favor any more worrisome tropical activity off the coast of Africa at this time of year, but 2018 already has experience an above-average hurricane season.

The typical year brings 12 named storms, six hurricanes and three major hurricanes to the Atlantic. For 2018, Hurricane Oscar is the 15th named storm and the eighth hurricane, of which two were major hurricanes (Florence and Michael).

Source: www.sun-sentinel.com