Colorado State University-(Newsradio WFLA)-Forecasters here believe the 2019 Atlantic Hurricane Season will be slightly below average. They say a relatively high likelihood of a weak El Nino is a primary factor for the prediction.
El Nino tends to increase upper-level westerly winds across the Caribbean into the tropical Atlantic, tearing apart hurricanes as they try to form. In addition, tropical Atlantic sea surface temperatures are currently slightly below their long-term average values and are considered an inhibiting factor for hurricane activity as well.
The CSU Tropical Meteorology Project team is predicting 13 named storms during the season. Forecasters predict that five of those storms will grow into hurricanes and two of those are expected to reach major hurricane strength.
The Atlantic Hurricane season starts on June 1st.