A meteorologist at the Canadian Hurricane Centre says several factors can affect how active a particular hurricane season will be.
The 2018 Atlantic hurricane season was more active than usual with 15 named storms, including eight hurricanes.
Bob Robichaud says one of the main factors is the water temperature in the Atlantic Ocean.
“If water temperature in the Atlantic is warmer than average than that’s a pretty good indicator that we’re going to see more storms than what the long-term average is,” Robichaud said.
The phenomenon known as El Niño — the warming of waters in the Pacific Ocean — usually means fewer storms in the Atlantic, Robichaud said.
NHC issued the final Monthly Tropical Weather Summary over the weekend to close out the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season. Tropical cyclone activity in the Atlantic was above normal with 15 named storms, 8 hurricanes, and 2 major hurricanes: https://t.co/dEg6cZLDXO. pic.twitter.com/3gi3LhOum6
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) December 3, 2018
Once a tropical system develops, Robichaud said the weather of the day plays a big role in where the storm eventually ends up.
Even though Atlantic Canada was only impacted by one storm in 2018, several others had their sights set on the Maritimes over the last three years, he said.
“However, there just happened to be an area of high-pressure over the eastern part of Canada that has either deflected these storms off to sea or have basically weakened the storms before they got here,” Robichaud said.
The Atlantic hurricane season officially runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.
Story by Brad Perry
Twitter: @BradMPerry
Email: perry.brad@radioabl.ca
(Photo: freeimages.com)
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