North America could be in for a more active storm season in 2016 than has been the case for the last few years.
The North American east coast may be getting itself ready for activity this Atlantic hurricane season, which means that residents, businesses and insurance companies on that side of the continent should likely start to keep an eye on weather reports and take the right steps to prepare.
Over the last few years, major hurricanes have been few in numbers, but it only takes one to bring catastrophe.
Despite the fact that the last few years haven’t seen highly active storm seasons, it is important to remember that all it takes is one highly damaging storm to destroy property, harm business and take lives. The Atlantic hurricane season is now underway and it looks as though this year will be about average, which actually means that there will be more storms in 2016 than there have been over the last couple of years, which have been less active than average.
What does that mean? According to predictions published by Reuters, an average storm season in the Atlantic Basin includes about 11 named tropical storms and six hurricanes. Of those hurricanes, two are considered to be major storms.
The Atlantic hurricane season starts in June and runs all the way through until the end of November.
While there has been a bit of respite from hugely damaging hurricanes over the last couple of years, it looks as though the numbers will be returning to average or may be slightly higher. The reason is that the current atmospheric situation appears to be building toward a combination of events that can lead to much greater storm activity.
This is important information for the North American insurance industry, as well as businesses and residents throughout the eastern and southern parts of the continent.
Among the factors having the greatest influence over the Atlantic hurricane season is the La Niña Pacific cool water pattern which is only just taking over for El Niño and that will continue to develop over the next couple of months. That influence is typically quite favorable for the development of tropical storms and hurricanes. When combined with a range of other leading weather variables, the outcome could be one conducive to greater weather activity in the Atlantic Basin.
