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Atlantic Hurricane Season 2021: NOAA to start Forecast Service in May

News Intro

The National Hurricane Centre has announced that it will begin Tropical Weather Outlooks (TWOs) for the Atlantic basin on May 15, two weeks before the official start of the 2021 Atlantic Hurricane Season on June 1.

Last Update - March 18, 2021

News Item Content

: Forecast Cone for a Storm Center by NOAA – the cone contains the probable path of the storm center but does not show the size of the storm. Hazardous conditions can occur outside the cone.

As the official June 1 start of the Atlantic hurricane season approaches, the National Hurricane Centre (NHC) will begin routine issuance of the Atlantic Tropical Weather Outlook (TWO) and the Graphical TWO at 0800 EDT (1200 UTC) May 15, 2021.

In a public statement, Michael J. Brennan, Branch Chief at the Hurricane Specialist Unit said the change was made in order to provide more frequent information on the potential for tropical cyclone formation.

Mr Brennan said that given recent increased tropical cyclone activity in the Atlantic basin in late May, routine issuance of the Atlantic TWO starting on May 15 offers a service improvement over unscheduled Special TWOs that are issued to discuss the possibility of tropical cyclone formation prior to the official start of hurricane season on June 1.

The NHC said that named storms have formed prior to the official start of the hurricane season in each of the past six years. Many of these May systems are short-lived, hybrid (subtropical) systems that are now being identified because of better monitoring and policy changes that now name sub-tropical storms.

Possible Change to Hurricane Season Definition?

The BBC News website is reporting that at a regional meeting of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) this week, meteorologists and officials will be discussing a possible change to how the hurricane season is defined.

The report by Simon King raises that questions of whether the hurricane season needs to start earlier because of the fact that while the Atlantic hurricane season officially begins on 1 June, over the past six years, significant storms have been forming earlier than this.

Noonsite: Tropical Season 2020: What will this Tropical Season bring?

Noonsite: Busy Atlantic Hurricane Season predicted for 2020

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

National Weather Service

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Any questions or comments on the NHC change can be directed to:

Michael J. Brennan Branch Chief, Hurricane Specialist Unit

[email protected]

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