Weather Talk: Be prepared as hurricane season begins

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]DALENCIA ARE WE EXPECTING TO HAVE A BUSY HURRICANE SEASON?

[00:00:03]HOPEFULLY NOT.

[00:00:04]YEAH, WELL, ACCORDING TO NOAA, THEY BROUGHT OUT THEIR OUTLOOK A COUPLE WEEKS AGO AND THEY WERE FORECASTING A BELOW NORMAL, SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL HURRICANE SEASON.

[00:00:14]BUT REALLY ALL IT TAKES IS ONE MAJOR HURRICANE TO MAKE IT A HISTORIC SEASON.

[00:00:18]SO REALLY, REGARDLESS, YOU WANT TO BE PREPARED FOR THE SEASON THAT WE HAVE AND WE’RE JUST GETTING STARTED.

[00:00:24]HERE’S A LOOK AT THE NAMES THAT WE’RE EXPECTING FOR THE 2026 SEASON.

[00:00:29]SO WE’RE GOING TO START WITH ARTHUR BERTHA, CRYSTAL DALI GO ALL THE WAY DOWN.

[00:00:33]YOU MAY REMEMBER SIX YEARS AGO, THAT’S EVERY TIME THIS THE NAMES ARE RECYCLED UNLESS THEY ARE RETIRED.

[00:00:38]ISAIAS.

[00:00:39]I LIKE TO CALL IT THE HURRICANE WITH A MILLION NAMES, BECAUSE NO MATTER IF YOU’RE A METEOROLOGIST OR JUST A WEATHER FAN, YOU WERE PRONOUNCING IT DIFFERENTLY.

[00:00:48]AND THEN WE WENT ALL THE WAY DOWN TO WILFRED.

[00:00:51]BY THE END OF THE SEASON.

[00:00:53]SO LET’S TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE EVOLUTION.

[00:00:54]FIRST.

[00:00:54]WE’LL START AS A TROPICAL WAVE THAT’S JUST SEEING A CLUSTER OF THUNDERSTORMS THAT THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE, THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER, IS GOING TO KEEP AN EYE ON.

[00:01:04]IT’S JUST UNSETTLED WEATHER AND HASN’T FORMED YET.

[00:01:07]EVENTUALLY, IT’S GOING TO IF IT CONTINUES TO STRENGTHEN, IT WILL BECOME A POTENTIAL TROPICAL CYCLONE.

[00:01:13]AT THIS POINT, THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CAN ISSUE WATCHES AND WARNINGS TO THE AFFECTED AREAS, AND THEN A TROPICAL DEPRESSION.

[00:01:21]THAT’S WHEN YOU START CATEGORIZING THE STRENGTH BY ITS WINDS.

[00:01:25]SO THAT WILL BE WIND SPEEDS, SUSTAINED WIND SPEEDS LESS THAN 39MPH.

[00:01:29]TROPICAL STORM WILL BE WIND SPEEDS BETWEEN 40 AND 73.

[00:01:33]AND THEN YOU GET A HURRICANE.

[00:01:36]ONCE THOSE WIND SPEEDS GET AT OR EXCEED 74MPH, WE HAVE THE SAFFORD SIMPSON SCALE FROM THERE, AND THAT’S WHERE WE TRACK OUR CATEGORIES.

[00:01:44]WE GO FROM CATEGORY ONE WITH SUSTAINED WIND SPEEDS BETWEEN 74 AND 95MPH, AND THEN YOU COULD GET ALL THE WAY UP TO CATEGORY FIVE, WHERE SOME OF THESE STORMS REACH UPWAR