AccuWeather Meteorologist Predicts Category 3 Or Bigger Storm Before Season Ends In November
With two significant hurricanes – and a possible third, Maria, poised to hit Puerto Rico – causing massive flooding and damage in Texas, the Caribbean and Florida the past two months, at least one more “major” storm is expected this season.
According to Dan Kottlowski, Senior Meteorologist for AccuWeather, a Category 3 or bigger hurricane is likely to form, with it possibly making landfall in the U.S.
The good news is that there are no more hurricanes forecast for September. Three hurricanes – Irma, Jose and Maria – formed in this month.
The hurricane season officially lasts until November 30th.
“The current computer forecasts show no signs of new development across the Atlantic basin through the rest of the month of September,” Kottlowski said.
“Typically, the development of tropical storms drops off quickly during the month of October. In a normal year we see about two named storms in October and about once every three years we see a named storm in November.
“Given that we are trending toward a La Nina pattern this fall, this favors tropical storm development through the month of October. October on average is the third most active month in the hurricane season.
“Based on our analysis, AccuWeather is expecting an additional four named tropical storms for this season. Three of those are expected to be hurricanes and one of those hurricanes should be a major hurricane (Category 3 or higher).
“If this outlook works out this will bring the total number of named storms to 17, the total number of hurricanes to 10 and the total number of major hurricanes at four.
“We also are projecting there could be one to perhaps two additional landfalls on the U.S. This would bring the total number of landfalls to five to six. This would be about double the number of landfalls on average we see over the United States.”
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