HOUSTON — With Houston and Galveston still recovering from the impacts of Hurricane Beryl, understandably, everyone would be ready for hurricane season to be over right now. Which is probably why we've been getting this question over and over again: When is the peak of hurricane season and when does it usually end?
The season begins in June with usually only one or two named systems throughout June and July. It's August when things usually start to really ramp up, leading to a statistical peak of September 10th. Storm activity peaks at this time because by then sea surface temperatures have had several summer months to warm up, dust from the Sahara subsides and stronger tropical waves emerge off the west coast of Africa.
Forecasters at Colorado State University are calling for a total of 25 named storms by the season's end. August, September and October make up by far the busiest part of hurricane season. Now, up to this writing, we've only had three named systems. So, are we really going to get 22 more tropical storms and or hurricanes? Here's a look at the storm count from a couple of years past for August, September and October.
As you can see, those months can produce a very large number of storms and with conditions in the Atlantic looking very favorable for development during the upcoming peak months, we're expecting the Atlantic to make a run at it.
Now, if we do get a total of 25 named storms, that would leave us short by four names as there are only 21 on the list. If that happens we'll go to the "Supplemental List" of storm names. That would take us all the way to "Deshawn."
