THE HURRICANE SEASON IS UP AND RUNNING

Written by: Bob Metcalfe

Going into the weekend, we had a few areas of "interest" as far as the tropics went. Well, it got interesting alright, and within 48 hours we went from no named storms this year to three!

That's right. Ana, Bill, and Claudette have all formed. Ana is a meager tropical depression, with scattered convection heading north of the Caribbean Islands over the next few days, bringing nothing more than gusty winds and a few inches of rain there. US impact from her is minimal if at all.

Bill became our first hurricane of the year, at Category 1 status as of 5am this morning. He is still well east of Ana's position, and expected path right now brings him north west. Again, he will likely miss most of the western Atlantic islands, but he could have an impact on us down the road as he moves up the coastline.

Of immediate concern for US interests is Claudette who made landfall early this morning, as a tropical storm. She developed over the extremely warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, showing us that there is plenty to watch as far as this tropical season is concerned. She will bring several inches of rain to areas in the Florida panhandle today, as well as in Mississippi and Alabama. She will also help supply the moisture that may bring us storms here in WNY later this week.

This was the longest "first named storm" of the year since Hurricane Andrew in 1992. That year turned out to be quite active and strong from that point on. A late start doesn't necessarily mean a weak year, however developing El Nino conditions could make it more and more difficult for the strongest storms to develop. More updates on the tropical weather to come!