The tropical weather and climate team at Colorado State University predicted “an extremely active” Atlantic hurricane season in 2024. The group projects 23 named storms for the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, in its preliminary forecast, which was released on Thursday. Eleven of those are predicted to develop into hurricanes, and five of them are predicted to strengthen into major hurricanes, or Category 3 to 5 on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with sustained winds of 111 mph or more.
According to researchers, this is the team’s highest hurricane prediction to date for their April projection. Since the university started releasing April forecasts in 1995, there have been multiple calls for as many as nine storms, which was the highest April forecast that has been made. One of the main contributing factors to the team’s original prognosis is “record warm tropical and eastern subtropical Atlantic sea surface temperatures.” Since warm ocean water serves as a hurricane’s fuel source, an exceptionally warm Atlantic promotes an above-average season by lowering air pressure and creating a more unstable environment, both of which are favorable to storms. According to the team’s forecast, hurricane activity in 2024 will be almost 170% of the average season between 1991 and 2020. The storm activity in 2023, in contrast, was roughly 120% of the typical season.
