On the calendar, Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through November 30. Of course, nature follows no such calendar.
That much has been evident this year. On June 2, just the second “official” day of the season, the third Atlantic tropical storm was named: Cristobal. The first two were Arthur (named on May 16th) and Bertha (named on May 27th). That puts this season on a record pace, at least so far.
RELATED: The “Huroncane”
Cristobal’s formation so early in the season isn’t even the most interesting thing about it. For starters, the storm developed out of remnants from another tropical storm that had formed in the east Pacific: Amanda.
This “crossover storm” was given a new name because National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration maintains separate name lists for each ocean basin. Had Amanda held together while crossing Central America into the Bay of Campeche, the storm would have still been called Amanda in the Atlantic.
Cristobal made landfall last week in the central Gulf Coast, dumping close to a foot of rain in parts of Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.
What happened a few days later set a new, weird record. Cristobal crossed over Lake Superior as a post-tropical cyclone, making this the most westward track for any Atlantic tropical system on record. Records go back to the late 1800s.
According to NOAA and the National Hurricane Center, the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season is expected to be more active than normal, though not as busy as the last few weeks may indicate.
New episodes of Heather’s Weather Whys are posted to the WGRZ YouTube channel every Wednesday evening.
If you have a weather question for Heather to answer, send it to her at heather.waldman@wgrz.com or connect with her on Facebook or Twitter.
