Hurricane Season 2018 is now underway

The Atlantic Hurricane season officially began on June 1st, however, on May 25th the first named storm, tropical cyclone Alberto, entered the Gulf of Mexico. It was the first storm to be named in May since 1976. Originally, the predictions for the 2018 Atlantic Basin hurricane season were for an above-average storm season. A weak La Nina period is expecting to alleviate much of the energy that was predicted, and so many organizations, including NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center are predicting a season that can be considered normal, with up to 16 named storms and 4 major hurricanes.  

That said, no one who has experienced a hurricane up close and personal could describe it as normal. Many communities along the United States coastlines, and elsewhere, are still dealing with the damage and destruction of 2017’s hurricane season – a decidedly above average season by every measure. See our post covering Hurricane Irma for links to resources in the eventuality of a hurricane making landfall.

For more information about the just-started 2018 season, including names and further resources, NOAA has compiled this article to help preparations for the coming months.

General Weather predictions for 2018

The predictions for the rest of the country, with a focus on the coastal states are: summer is to be cooler than average in California and Texas; hotter and wetter in the North West, South East and Mid-Atlantic; and hot and dry in New England.

Fall is expected to bring increased precipitation in the South East and Gulf states, and to be cooler than normal in the North East and North West. All other regions are expected to be about normal. (source: Farmer’s Almanac 2018) Winter 2018-19, is harder to predict this far out, however some sources are tentatively prediction another colder than normal winter in the North East, extrapolating from the previous few winters. As always, make sure to check the weather in your harbor for up-to-date information as the year progresses.