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August 02, 2011 |
Has the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season been "active?" On one hand, we've had five named storms already. In an "average" season, we've typically only had two named storms by the first of August.
However, the first four storms were short-lived, none attaining hurricane status, with little to no impact to land areas. This is on-par with the season's first hurricane typically occurring by the second week of August. Dating back to 1950, August has had...
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Three times as many named storms,
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...almost four times as many hurricanes,
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...and eight times as many major hurricanes (Category 3 or stronger on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale)
as July. In fact, 78% of named storms in the Atlantic Basin have taken place from August through October. Not that June or July named storms or hurricanes "don't count," but August through October is the heart of the hurricane season. [weather]
TWC Hurricane Expert, Dr. Rick Knabb says this is due to an environment of decreased vertical wind shear and increased sea-surface temperatures in what's known as the "main development region" of the tropical Atlantic, between the west coast of Africa and the Caribbean. Into this more favorable environment, more well-defined tropical waves emerge from Africa every 2 to 4 days.
"But it's been awhile"
Do you have "hurricane apathy," even as we're headed into the heart of the hurricane season?
Since the destructive 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons, only 4 hurricanes have made landfall in the U.S., all doing so in the western half of the Gulf of Mexico. Both Alex and Earl in 2010 did not make U.S. landfalls, but still produced some impacts in the U.S. (Rio Grande flooding, Outer Banks storm surge flooding).
That's no hurricane landfalls the past two seasons and three of the last five (2010, 2009, 2006). Florida hasn't had a hurricane landfall since Wilma in October 2005.
Watch video: U.S. hurricane landfall...it's been awhile
 | | Only 4 U.S. hurricane landfalls the past 5 seasons |
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