By Clint Thompson
Hurricane season officially started this week on June 1. It will end on Nov. 30. That means tropical storm activity is possible for the next six months.
Development is more likely to occur near the Southeast early in the season, explains Pam Knox, University of Georgia Extension agricultural climatologist.
“Early in the season, most of the development occurs in the Gulf or on the east coast, and that’s because that’s where the warmest water is. It takes some time for the Atlantic to warm up. We get these typical storms coming off of Africa in more like late August or early September,” Knox said. “This time of year, they’re usually developing much closer to us here in the U.S. They’re not as strong, because they don’t have as much time to develop, but they could still cause a lot of problems.”
Gulf-based storms are especially dangerous since those located in the Southeast don’t have much time to prepare.
“Yeah, those little storms coming off of the Gulf, you might only have a day or two. That’s not very long to predict where they’re going to go. That makes it trickier, it’s just a different kind of tricky,” Knox said.