2018 Hurricane Season Expected to be More Active than Usual

Colorado State University’s Department of Atmospheric Science has released their extended forecast for the 2018 hurricane season in the North Atlantic, and while they’re not calling for the same magnitude of devastating, record-breaking storms from the 2017 season, they sill expect this year to see higher than average activity.

"The western tropical Atlantic is anomalously warm right now, while portions of the eastern tropical Atlantic and far North Atlantic are anomalously cool," The report explains. Although this warm/cold divide means that the overall temperature in the Northern Atlantic is close to its long-term average, the sharp differences in regional temperatures is causing the report’s authors to "anticipate a slightly above-average probability for major hurricanes making landfall along the continental United States coastline and in the Caribbean."

They are predicting that 14 named storms will form this season, 2 more than the 1981-2010 average, with 7 of these storms evolving into hurricanes (over an average of 6.5), with at least three of those becoming major hurricanes of category-3 or above–on average, there would be only two. Thankfully, this is below 2017’s record-breaking season, a period that saw 17 named storms, 10 hurricanes and 6 major hurricanes, but the report cautions that it only takes one bad storm to ruin everything for an individual, family, or even a community.

"As is the case with all hurricane seasons, coastal residents are reminded that it only takes one hurricane making landfall to make it an active season for them. They should prepare the same for every season, regardless of how much activity is predicted."

Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria made 2017’s hurricane season one of the costliest in history, with Harvey and Irma alone making a $290 billion impact on the U.S. economy, and Maria hitting Puerto Rico with an estimated $95 billion in damages.

Whitley discusses a warning he recently received from the Visitors that we are "about to undergo a combination of climate and economic upheaval that is going to fundamentally change our world and our lives," in his latest Journal entry, "Intense New Encounters and What They Mean".