Hurricane season not so stormy

If you are superstitious, you may want to look away as George Day pokes the bear in this Cruising Compass report:

At the risk of tempting fate, we have to observe that the National Hurricane Center’s forecast for an above average number of named storms in the North Atlantic this year has so far under performed. Aside from Beryl, which was a damaging hurricane in the Eastern Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic has been strangely quiet. This week, three “invests” are noted by the NHC but given less than a 40% chance to develop tropical storm strength.

Water temperatures in the Atlantic and Caribbean are still higher than average but are cooling more rapidly than expected and this has a dampening effect on storm formation. With the El Nino of the last three years fading and being replaced by a La Nina, storms were supposed to be more likely to form, but they aren’t doing so.

Are we to expect a later than normal hurricane season? Or will the Atlantic continue its benign behavior? Meteorologists are crunching the data and revising their models to get a firmer handle on what’s happening. Check out this excellent article on the subject in Axios… click here.