Hurricane season begins with focus on preparedness

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]All right, today marks the start of the annual hurricane season, which is in the Atlantic basin, which runs from now, June 1st, through the end of November.

[00:00:07]The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, is forecasting a below normal hurricane season, largely because of the expected development of El Nino in the area. Eight to 14 named storms are expected. Of those, NOAA expects three to six to strengthen into hurricanes. One to three of those could become major hurricanes, as a category three or higher. All right, so let's bring in the director of the Hurricane Center, Michael Brennan. How How you doing this morning?

[00:00:36]>> Hey, great. Good morning. Great to be with you.

[00:00:38]>> All right, explain to us, first of all, El Nino and how that's going to affect the season.

[00:00:43]>> Yeah, usually El Nino, which is a warming of ocean temperatures across the eastern Pacific, tends to make the environment a lot less favorable for tropical storm and hurricane formation, especially across portions of the deep tropical Atlantic. Um if you look at this chart here, we tend to see a higher vertical wind shear, or a change of wind speed and direction with height, and strong upper-level westerly winds here across the Caribbean that extend out across the deep tropical Atlantic, especially by the time we get to the peak of hurricane season. This is what we expect. And there's August, September, October months, where we see the bulk of the Atlantic hurricane activity. So, this tends to make the environment here a lot less favorable for storms to develop and or strengthen. But, as you said, we still are expecting storms and and in fact, storms can find pockets of a more favorable conditions as you go farther north into the Gulf or off the southeast coast of the United States.

[00:01:31]>> So, you guys are predicting a little bit lower than what we have average. Last year was a below average year as well, or at least we didn't see any major landfall here in the United States. Was that the same effect, or was that something different?

[00:01:46]>> Well, it was different. Last year, we did not have El Nino in place, but we did have a different aspect of the hurricane season. We had, you know, three category five hurricanes, including Melissa, which hit Jamaica in October. but most of the tropical storm and hurricane activity was shifted a little farther east. We only had one tropical storm make landfall in South Carolina. So, for the mainland United States, it was a relatively quiet year, but just a reminder, we've had 25 hurricane landfalls in the US basically from 2017 up through this year. So, it's still been a very, very busy period, and just because it was relatively quiet last year in terms of US activity, doesn't mean that we can count on that this season.

[00:02:23]>> Absolutely, and even though it's a lower than average forecast, at least it only takes one, right? And so, we need to prepare, right?

[00:02:31]>> Absolutely. Yeah, and this is the time to get ready. This is why we talk about hurricane season on June 1st. The real steps to preparation are knowing what your risk is.

[00:02:40]And especially for inland flooding, you know, that's been the biggest killer in tropical storms and hurricanes over the last 10 to 15 years in the United States, as we saw with storms like Helene, but also storms like Harvey and Florence. And for folks again in North Georgia, you know, you have to be you don't have to have a major hurricane making landfall on the Georgia coast.

[00:02:58]Storms can come in from the Gulf and come in from the the Atlantic, and it doesn't take a hurricane to produce that very, very heavy rainfall that we can get that can cause that flooding.

[00:03:08]>> Typically in June, I guess it's it's not necessarily rare that we see any tropical storms or hurricanes, but what are we looking like as far as this month goes?

[00:03:17]>> Yeah, you know, if you take a look out across the Atlantic here this morning, it's relatively quiet. You know, in June, we typically get a named storm about once every other season. So, June is not typically that active, but the storms we do get in June tend to form close to home in the Gulf, off the coast of Florida, off the southeast coast of the United States. So, they can form and then affect us with a not a lot of lead time. So, again, it's important for folks to start getting ready. Be ready if a storm does threaten you this season.

[00:03:45]>> Are those waters over the Gulf warmer than what they usually are about now?

[00:03:50]>> Yeah, they're a little warmer than average, and that's one reason why you know, we can't you know, you know, can't discount the threat of systems in the Gulf off the southeast coast of the US.

[00:03:58]Water temperatures across the Atlantic basin are still warmer than average, although not as warm as they've been in previous years. So, that's one of those counterbalancing factors that could help, you know, cause storm activity even in the face of a strengthening El Nino this season.

[00:04:12]>> All right, you talked about preparing us. What are some of the supplies that you think folks need for this season?

[00:04:17]>> Yeah, you really want to have multiple days of food, water, uh you know, medicine, any medical supplies or medical needs, medical equipment you might have, you know, up to 7 days worth of all that in your emergency kit, which you can use for hurricanes or any other disaster that your family may face.

[00:04:35]You also want to make sure you have an insurance checkup, catalog all your possessions, and again, figure out how you're going to communicate with your friends and family if you lose power, if you lose cell phone service. And then finally, it says it's a great time to find your trusted sources of information for hurricanes and other natural disasters in your community, your local emergency managers, your local media, your local National Weather Service office.

[00:04:56]>> Absolutely. The risk can be great.

[00:04:58]Again, it only takes one storm and and to to do all kinds of damage. And so, we talk about the whole season as a whole, starts to amp up around September.

[00:05:06]That's where we hit our peak of the season, but we'll be watching it closely, and Mike, we'll be checking in with you periodically throughout the season.