If it’s June, it must be Hurricane Season !

Hurricane Alex Making Landfall in 2010  (Source: NOAA)

Although hurricane season officially gets underway June 1, there are typically very few hurricanes during the month of June.  That’s because environmental conditions don’t often become favorable over a large area until later in the season.  However, there have been some significant June hurricanes.

2012: The most recent June hurricane in the Atlantic was named Chris.  At peak intensity, Chris was a minimal Category 1 hurricane with 85 mph and didn’t make landfall.  It developed in the northern Atlantic, where sea surface temperatures were in the mid-70s – below the typical threshold of 80° that tropical systems need for intensification.

2010: Alex was a Category 2 at peak intensity with sustained winds of 110 mph when it made landfall in Mexico.  Its minimum central air pressure fell to a low 946 millibars (mb), which is more commonly found in a strong Category 3 or a Category 4 hurricane.  Air pressure often falls more quickly in an intensifying tropical system than wind speeds can increase.  That’s why scientists use air pressure instead of wind speed as a more accurate measure of tropical cyclone intensity. 

Alex was also the Atlantic’s first June hurricane since Allison in 1995.  Its minimum air pressure of 946 mb also tied it with 1957’s Hurricane Audrey for lowest pressure in an Atlantic hurricane during the month of June.

1986: The name “Bonnie” was first used in 1980 and has been a named storm seven times since then.  In 1986, Bonnie developed in late June and became the first hurricane of the season.  It made landfall along the eastern Texas coast on June 25 as a Category 1 with sustained winds of 85 mph.  This was the last time a June hurricane made landfall in the United States.

1968: June was active in the tropical Atlantic with three named storms, including two hurricanes.  Abby was a minimal Category 1 with peak winds of 75 mph, but weakened to a tropical storm before making its initial landfall near Punta Gorda, Florida on June 4.  It made a second landfall as a weaker storm near Jacksonville, Florida. 

Later in the month another tropical depression impacted the state of Florida.  However, it wasn’t named Tropical Storm “Brenda” until after it had moved eastward into the Atlantic and away from Florida.  Brenda became a Category 1 storm with peak winds of 75 mph before it dissipated over the open Atlantic. 

1966:  Hurricane Alma was an exceedingly rare major hurricane that developed in June.  At peak intensity in the Gulf of Mexico on June 8, it was a Category 3 storm with sustained winds of 125 mph.  Fortunately, it weakened to a Category 1 storm before making landfall near Apalachee Bay, Florida on June 9.  Alma remains the last major hurricane to develop anywhere in the Atlantic Ocean during the month of June.