How Tropical Storm Elsa may be cause for concern
Last year’s hurricane season was record-breaking and destructive as a whole. The Atlantic Ocean alone saw 30 named storms, 14 of which developed into hurricanes. This set the record for the most storms on record, surpassing the old record from 2005 of 28 named storms. Overall, we saw the second highest number of hurricanes last season. With forecasts suggesting that this year will be another above average season for hurricane development, the ABC 17 Stormtrack Weather Team wanted to dive into the similarities between the number of storms we’ve seen now vs. what we saw at this time last year.
On this day last year, we had seen five tropical storms in the Atlantic Ocean beginning on May 16, 2020. Our first hurricane, Hanna, arrived on July 23rd. This year, we’ve already seen four tropical storms beginning on the 22nd of May. Our fifth tropical storm, Elsa, was briefly at hurricane status, but as of today, is back at tropical storm levels.
In the Eastern Pacific last year, by the start of July, we had seen two tropical depressions and two tropical storms. The first tropical depression arrived very early on the 25th of April. This year, however, things are moving a bit slower. We have seen one tropical storm, Andres, on the 9th of May.
Obviously, it’s concerning to be seeing hurricane strength storms this early in the summer considering peak hurricane activity in the Atlantic runs from June 1st through November 30th. We still have plenty of time left in this season, and we’ll be tracking every storm that develops.
