Hurricane season has been busy, and it has 2 months left
Rina will form soon, then things may be relatively quiet
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - It’s a bit wild to think there have been 17 named storms in the Atlantic in 2023 and it’s not even October yet. That would be a lot in any year, but in an El Niño year? Definitely on the unusual and unexpected side.
The year through September 25th is running above normal in virtually every category. This includes things like total named storms, number of hurricanes, number of major hurricanes, number of calendar days with at least one named storm somewhere in the Atlantic Basin, and accumulated cyclone energy (ACE).
The last variable in that list -- ACE -- is a highly popular way to measure the activeness of a given hurricane season. That’s because it incorporates not only the number of storms to form, but the intensity and duration of each storm as well. ACE is an excellent tool to judge just how active a hurricane season is.
With Philippe being the most recent named storm, that means 16 names have been crossed off the list so far in 2023.
“But Tyler, you said there have been 17 named storms in the first sentence of the article.”
Yes, I did say that. And it’s true! Way back in January the National Hurricane Center looked back at a system that formed off the Northeast U.S. coast and ruled that it did in fact become a short-lived subtropical storm. So it is included as a named storm.
Of the 17 named storms there have been 10 tropical storms, 3 hurricanes and 3 major hurricanes. Then obviously the unnamed subtropical storm at the beginning of the year.
The only names left on the initial list are Rina, Sean, Tammy, Vince, and Whitney. Should every named be exhausted then an auxiliary list will be used until the season concludes.
One of those names -- Rina -- will likely be crossed off the list very soon thanks to an area of activity way out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. That area of showers and storms is continuing to organize and will likely become a named storm by the end of the workweek.
Fortunately future Rina will likely stay away from the U.S. Most forecast model guidance takes an eventual hurricane and curves it away from the U.S. East Coast next week. The other system out there is Tropical Storm Philippe, which is weakening as I type this story.
No issues lie ahead for any land mass regarding Philippe thanks to its weakening state. It should completely fizzle out as it approaches the Lesser Antilles in the eastern Caribbean.
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