Storm Season

11/8/2021 (Permalink)

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrator's (NOAA) Climate Prediction Center (CPC) has updated its definition of the average hurricane season using 1991-2020 instead of 1982-2010. As a result, the "average" season now has 14 named storms and seven hurricanes, three of which will be major-Cat 3- hurricanes. The average number of named storms and the number of hurricanes increased with this change, while the number of major hurricanes remains unchanged. Therefore, the "above average" season prediction will be higher than the previous prediction for an above average season based on the changes of what is considered average.

For the first time, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) began issuing tropical weather outlooks and forecasts on May 15 instead of June 1 as it recognized that severe tropical weather is forming earlier in the calendar year. And beginning this year (2021), since the list of storm names has been exhausted, NHC will use names from a pre-determined supplemental list instead of the Greek alphabet as was past practice.