Today NOAA released their outlook on the 2019 Atlantic Hurricane Season and they’re predicting a fairly “normal” season. Their reasoning for this “average” season is the counteracting of El Nino and the warmer ocean temperatures. Warmer temperatures would support a more active, stronger season. The persistent El Nino will work against a more active season, making the entire outlook “average”.
That means the National Hurricane Center is predicting a total of 9-15 named storms, 4-8 of them reaching hurricane status, and 2-4 of those making it to “major” hurricane strength — Category 3 or greater. From last year, we saw two hurricane strong enough to be retired from the name list going forward. Those hurricanes being Florence and Michael. Below are the stats from the 2018 Hurricane season.
Official Hurricane Season starts on June 1st, but we already have used “Andrea” this year. A storm that formed earlier this week and remained for about 24 hours before dissipating near Bermuda. Despite any of the stats listed above, keep in mind it only takes one land falling storm to create a major impact.
Closer to home, of course this coming weekend the unofficial kickoff to summer. It’s a weekend that can really go either way weather-wise and we’re getting pretty lucky this year. Sunshine will be with us for most of the weekend and temperatures very respectable. We’ll see highs 70s and 80s (60s and 70s on the Cape). We do have one rain chance Saturday night into Sunday. It should arrive late enough Saturday and be out early enough Sunday where it doesn’t impact any outdoor activities. Best chance to pick up a shower will be for our northern spots. There’s a better chance of rain if you’re heading up to Lake Country.
