After just the third August without a hurricane in 60 years, the United States may be slammed by three storms in September.
The National Hurricane Center said on Monday that the closest storm was in the Central Tropical Atlantic and that it had an 80% probability of intensifying into a hurricane during the next five days.
The next two are located 600 miles east of Bermuda as of Monday at 2 p.m. EDT, with a 10% risk of intensifying into a hurricane, and off the west coast of Africa with a 30% chance of doing so in the next five days.
It is not anticipated that a fourth storm, which is moving towards Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, would strike the United States.
Tropical Storm Colin, which made landfall in the Carolinas on July 2, was the final named storm to reach the United States.
Four storms are currently in the Atlantic – three of them potentially headed towards the U.S.
Pictured is the storm currently in the Central Tropical Atlantic, with an estimated chance of it becoming a hurricane within five days at 80 percent
With sustained winds of 150 mph as it approached Port Fourchon, Louisiana, on August 29, 2021, Storm Ida tied Hurricane Laura of 2020 and the 1856 Last Island hurricane for the state record for the greatest landfall speeds ever felt.
A named storm has not formed in the Atlantic between July 3 and the first week of August for the first time since 1982, according to Colorado State University hurricane expert Philip Klotzbach.
Hurricane Henri slammed into New England in August 2021. Pictured are the remnants of the storm in Milford, Connecticut, on August 23, 2021
Rescuers are seen in Helmetta, New Jersey, after Henri hit on August 22, 2021
On September 1, 2021, floodwaters slowly recede in Lafitte, Louisiana, which is roughly 25 miles south of New Orleans, after Hurricane Ida.
Since 1950, the phenomenon has occurred five additional times, making the extended period of silence before peak season a about once-every-ten-year occurrence.
Dan Pydynowski, a senior meteorologist with Accuweather, told USA Today that there was still a chance for a named storm in August.
Will there be no designated storm before the end of the day on Wednesday? It’s going to be tight,’ Pydynowski said.
According to Accuweather, there will be 16 named storms this season, which is five less than in 2021 but still two over normal.
In September, when the ocean water is at its hottest, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration anticipates six to ten Atlantic hurricanes, up from the average of seven.
‘You don’t want people to let their guard down,’ said Pydynowski.
‘Just because we haven’t had any storms yet doesn’t mean we won’t.
‘And it’s not necessarily the number of storms that counts.
‘It’s: does the storm hit the U.S., and if it does, what is the intensity when it does so?’