How rare are May tropical storms?

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Hurricane season for the Atlantic Basin starts Sunday, June 1, hurricane season in the Eastern Pacific has already begun. We are already awaiting the formation of the Eastern Pacific’s first named storm of the season, Alvin.

This storm is located a few hundred miles off the coast of southern Mexico, and is expected to better organize over the next 24 to 48 hours as a tropical depression or potentially a tropical storm by the end of the week.

The Eastern Pacific hurricane season started May 15, more than two weeks earlier than the Atlantic’s because of warmer waters and favorable upper-level winds in the middle of the month.

Since this tropical activity is occurring so early in the year, many of us are asking, “Is this normal?”.

Normal, not exactly, but it isn’t uncommon to see tropical activity before June 1. About every five years or so we get tropical storms or even a hurricane develop ahead of schedule.

Keep in mind, humans set the date parameters for hurricane season, not Mother Nature. If conditions are right, storms will form.

Our most recent pre-season storms in the Atlantic Basin were:

• Tropical Storm Ana – April 20, 2003
• Tropical Storm Arlene – May 6, 1981
• Tropical Storm Ana – May 8, 2015
• Subtropical Storm Andrea – May 7, 2007
• Tropical Storm Alberto – May 19, 2012

The Eastern Pacific and the Atlantic Basis use separate lists of names for storms. Our first named storm in the Atlantic Basin will be Andrea. Which ironically, was the name of a pre-season storm back in 2007.

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