The 2010 hurricane season is underway

Today is the “official” start date, climatologically speaking, of the Atlantic hurricane season. As I’ve pointed out before, it’s really an arbitrary date, with no special significance except that the National Hurricane Center begins publishing its Tropical Weather Outlook four times a day. Speaking of which:

TROPICAL WEATHER OUTLOOK
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
800 AM EDT TUE JUN 1 2010

FOR THE NORTH ATLANTIC…CARIBBEAN SEA AND THE GULF OF MEXICO…

INTERMITTENT SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS IN THE NORTHWESTERN CARIBBEAN SEA EAST OF THE YUCATAN PENINSULA ARE ASSOCIATED WITH THE REMNANTS OF PACIFIC TROPICAL STORM AGATHA. UPPER-LEVEL WINDS…PARTICULARLY TO THE NORTH OF THE SYSTEM IN THE GULF OF MEXICO…ARE NOT CONDUCIVE FOR DEVELOPMENT AND THERE IS A LOW CHANCE…10 PERCENT…OF THIS SYSTEM BECOMING A TROPICAL CYCLONE DURING THE NEXT 48 HOURS. THIS SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO MOVE LITTLE OVER THE NEXT DAY OR SO.

ELSEWHERE…TROPICAL CYCLONE FORMATION IS NOT EXPECTED IN THE NEXT 48 HOURS.

TODAY MARKS THE FIRST DAY OF THE ATLANTIC HURRICANE SEASON…WHICH WILL RUN UNTIL NOVEMBER 30. LONG-TERM AVERAGES FOR THE NUMBER OF NAMED STORMS…HURRICANES…AND MAJOR HURRICANES ARE 11…6…AND 2…RESPECTIVELY.

Forecasters universally expect a much busier season than that, though. But we shall see. Here’s the list of storm names. First up is Alex.