Only three days into the Atlantic hurricane season and we are already expected to see our first named storm at some point today.
"Potential Tropical Cyclone One" is currently sitting over the far southern Gulf of Mexico as of Friday morning. This same storm was once Hurricane Agatha in the eastern Pacific. The storm made landfall near Puerto Angel in the Mexican state of Oaxaca as a category 2 hurricane on Monday, May 30.
The storm is expected to stay weak as a tropical storm when it reaches Florida tonight through Saturday. Tropical storm warnings have already been issued for much of the central and southern Florida peninsula.
Heavy rainfall is the main impact from this system with 4-8" areawide across southern Florida. Localized amounts up to a foot are likely.
Is this a harbinger of an active season? Probably so. La Niña is driving the atmospheric pattern which tends to favor above normal hurricane seasons in the Atlantic basin. Colorado State University hurricane researchers are now predicting 20 named storms, well above the normal of 14. They also predict 10 hurricanes and 5 major ones.
Here is the list of names for the 2022 Atlantic season storms.
While the season starts June 1st, keep in mind most of the storms don't get going until August and September, with the peak in activity in the early to mid part of September. The Atlantic season ends on November 30th.
