How Busy Can June Be?

Tropical Storm Debby's track, June 2012   (Source: NOAA)

Although hurricane season isn’t even a month old, it has already been an active one so far with two named tropical storms: Ana and Bill.  Tropical Storm Ana formed during the second week of May and made landfall near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  Tropical Storm Bill made landfall in Texas late last week and its remnants brought prodigious rainfall to the Mid-Atlantic Region this past weekend.  According to the National Hurricane Center, having two named storms before July 1 is relatively unusual in the Atlantic Ocean. 

 

Weather enthusiasts can point to the last above average hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean (2012) to show how busy things can be early in the season.  On this date in 2012, Debby was named a tropical storm.  Debby was the fourth storm to form before the end of June.  In contrast, the fourth named storm of the 2014 season didn’t come until September 1 when Dolly became a tropical storm.  Contributing to the active start of the 2012 hurricane season were two tropical storms that formed in late May: Alberto and Beryl.  The first hurricane of the 2012 season also developed in June when Chris became a minimal Category 1 hurricane on June 21.

When tropical storm Debby formed in June 2012, it moved slowly for a few days since there was no large scale weather system to help it move more quickly.  That allowed Debby to bring heavy, flooding rains to much of the southeast U.S. Gulf Coast, including most of Florida.  Tampa saw its wettest June on record three years ago with a monthly rainfall total of 18.66”.  Worst of all, Tampa set a daily rainfall record of 7.11” on June 24, 2012.  That’s more rain than Tampa typically sees during the entire month of June.  Although, tropical storm Debby never achieved hurricane status, it caused roughly $250 million in damage – largely the result of flooding.

This underscores the point that a tropical storm or hurricane doesn’t have to be exceptionally strong to cause major flooding or damage as Bill has demonstrated during the last several days.  This season’s next tropical storm will be named Claudette.