The National Hurricane Center over the weekend reminded that the peak of hurricane season — starting mid-August through late October — has begun, with N.H.C. providing an important message to encourage preparedness.
"Preparedness is everything when you start thinking about the hurricane season," said Ken Graham, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Hurricane Center in Miami, Fla. "So think about those hazards that stretch well outside that center, well outside the cone."
Mr. Graham said historically water has killed the most people in tropical systems. "So storm surge and that rainfall inland, that's what we got to protect ourselves from."
He added, "Don't forget it's also about the wind and it's also about those tornadoes so knowing your risks, having a plan to mitigate those risks, that's how we stay together in Hurricane Season 2020."
As of Sunday there were four systems in the Atlantic: Kyle, which is now a post-tropical cyclone that is expected to diminish by Monday night. Attesting to how busy the 2020 Hurricane Season has already been, N.H.C. said Kyle is the earliest 11th named storm on record, forming more than three months sooner than average.
There is also Tropical Storm Josephine, which spared the Northern Leeward Islands and was found to be even further north of those islands than previously thought. According to N.H.C., Josephine was found to be "losing organization as it passes to the north of the Northern Leeward Islands."
There are two new disturbances brewing in the Atlantic. The first, a fast-moving tropical wave located over the central tropical Atlantic several hundred miles east of the Windward Islands, which N.H.C. said at 2:00 a.m. was producing a small area of disorganized showers and thunderstorms. This system is expected to move westward at about 20 mph during the next few days, and that fast speed is likely to limit development while the system approaches the Windward and southern Leeward Islands today and Monday and moves across the eastern Caribbean Sea on Tuesday.
"After that time, the system is expected to move more slowly westward across the central and western Caribbean Sea, and upper-level winds could be conducive for development during the middle to latter part of this week," N.H.C. said. Development chances for the system: 10 percent in the next 48 hours and 30 percent in the next five days.
The other system is a tropical wave moving off the coast of Africa which is producing a large area of cloudiness and showers.
"This wave is forecast to move westward at 15 to 20 mph during the next few days, and some development will be possible by the middle to latter part of the week as environmental conditions become more conducive while the system is over the central tropical Atlantic," according to N.H.C.
Development chances in the next 48 hours is near zero, while chances through the next five days is low at 20 percent.
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