Where Are the Hurricanes?

We should have seen our first hurricane of the season by now, but none has appeared. If we don't get one by the morning of September 15, 2013 this would be the most hurricane-free first half of a season since satellites began tracking them in 1967:*

• Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) through September 5, 2013 has reached only 25 percent of the 1981-2010 average.**
• During the satellite era, only five seasons had comparably low ACE numbers.
• The energy expended by tropical cyclones fell off during those years either because the ocean temperatures in the main region where the storms first develop was colder than normal, or
• Because the seasons fell into El Niño years.***

El Niño is nowhere to be found this year and sea-surface temperatures in the main development region for Atlantic tropical cyclones have been running above normal.

SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor

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*Dennis Feltgen, National Hurricane Center.
**National Hurricane Center.
***Jeff Masters, Weather Underground.