Brace yourself, hurricane season is heating up

The sleeping giant may be about to awaken.

Hurricane activity in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico is forecast to ramp up over the next couple of weeks. “Weather models have flipped the switch on the Atlantic hurricane season and see multiple areas of development possible, starting mainly this weekend,” weather.us meteorologist Ryan Maue said.

One storm could spin up in the Caribbean over the next few days and affect Florida over the Labor Day weekend. Looking ahead, “there is the potential for two or three tropical features spinning over the Atlantic by the second weekend in September,” AccuWeather meteorologist Dan Kottlowski said.

The next tropical storm or hurricane in the Atlantic will be called Florence.

One of the reasons for the predicted increase in activity is that wind shear, appears to be decreasing. “There are signs now that wind shear may drop over a significant part of the Atlantic basin over the next couple of weeks,” said AccuWeather meteorologist Bernie Rayno.

Regardless of what happens this year, 2018 will be hard-pressed to top the calamitous 2017 season, which featured monster hurricanes such as Harvey, Irma and Maria. Overall, 10 hurricanes formed in the Atlantic last year, well above the average of six.

The prediction for a busy September follows an unusually quiet August.

“A quiet August does not guarantee a quiet Atlantic hurricane season,” said Colorado State University meteorologist Phil Klotzbach.

September is the peak month for Atlantic hurricanes, the Weather Channel said.