No one has a crystal ball to foresee what will happen during the 2018 hurricane season that begins June 1, but NOAA forecasters say there’s a 75 percent chance this hurricane season will be at least as busy as a normal year, or busier.
No one has a crystal ball to foresee what will happen during the 2018 hurricane season that begins June 1, but NOAA forecasters say there’s a 75 percent chance this hurricane season will be at least as busy as a normal year, or busier.
An average hurricane season produces 12 named storms with winds of 39 miles per hour or higher, including six hurricanes, and three major hurricanes of Category 3, 4 or 5. For 2018, the NOAA forecast calls for 10 to 16 named storms, including five to nine hurricanes and one to four major hurricanes.
The forecast comes in the wake of the challenging 2017 hurricane season, when the U.S. Geological Survey mounted a months-long effort to gather scientific information that helped protect lives and property. Not long after Hurricane Nate – the last hurricane of 2017 to make a U.S. landfall — disintegrated over Alabama on October 8, the agency’s coastal storm response leaders began preparing for the season that starts now.
“The USGS’ response to five major hurricanes in 2017 was impressive,” said Jim Reilly, who was sworn in as director of the USGS on May 14. “USGS employees demonstrated their scientific expertise, creative problem-solving skills and dedication. We are all hoping for a calmer 2018, but if it isn’t we’ll be ready to provide the best possible science to local, state and federal officials and local residents. We will, as always, be ready to provide the data allowing the best possible decisions on response and recovery and to continue the ongoing effort to make communities safer and more resilient.”
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Image via USGS.
