Hurricane Season Starting May 15

Tropical Storm Arthur just off the Southeast
U.S coast on May 18, 2020.

 The official start of hurricane season in the Atlantic has long been June 1.  

That's about the time the tropical Atlantic Ocean is warm enough, and atmospheric conditions are good enough, so that tropical storms can form. 

Trouble is, tropical storms have defied the calendar and have developed in May for the last six years in a row. 

Last year, two tropical storms formed during the second half of May in the Atlantic Ocean. In the past 50 years or so, there have been 19 named tropical storms or hurricanes in the Atlantic before June 1. 

That has the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) thinking about just changing the calendar to accommodate the trend toward more May storms.   

The National Hurricane Center always gears up to track and warn people of tropical storms even if they do happen before June 1.  But changing the calendar might focus more of the public's attention on the danger

As USA Today reports:

"Although the majority of the recent May storms have been rather benign, some have not. 'At least 20 deaths have occurred from late May storms since 2012, with about $200 million in total damage and one of these systems was a 60-knot (70 mph) tropical storm at landfall, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)."

USA Today quotes Colorado State University Researcher Phil Klotzbach, who sees a potential downside to moving up the start of hurricane season.  Early season storms during a period extending well into July, tend to be weak and relatively infrequent, not like the monsters common in August and September. 

"If you extend the season another 15 days, you could basically have three months with very little storm activity...People can only prepare for things for so long before they just say 'forget it,'" Klotzbach said.  

 There's probably two reasons why there might be a trend toward earlier season tropical storms. Climate change is making oceans warmer, and tropical systems need warmer water to grow and thrive. Perhaps more importantly, satellite data is much better than in the past and enables meteorologists to spot new or small or brief tropical storms that wouldn't have been detected years ago.

Hurricane season will officially start on June 1 this year.  Any changes will start in 2022 or later.