June is the month of my birthday and, coincidentally and more importantly, also “welcomes” in the start of the Atlantic hurricane season.

However, typically, according to the Weather Channel, storm activity is typically slow through July and most systems form in the western Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico.

“The National Hurricane Center selected the June 1-Nov. 30 dates for the hurricane season because they encompass more than 97 percent of tropical cyclones. But as this year showed, there’s a reason those dates only account for 97 percent of storms; Andrea made a brief appearance to the southwest of Bermuda May 20-21.”

“The southeastern U.S. coast, the Gulf of Mexico and the western Caribbean Sea are the breeding grounds for tropical cyclones during June. July is when we start to look a bit farther east since the region of the Atlantic near the Lesser Antilles can also become more ripe for development.

“The Cape Verde season, when tropical storms and hurricanes tend to form more often in the central or eastern Atlantic Ocean from disturbances moving off the northwestern coast of Africa, generally doesn’t begin until early August.

“Since storms that form early in the year typically start out closer to land, that can increase the chance of impacts along the U.S. Gulf and Southeast coasts, as well as parts of the Caribbean.”

And the Weather Channel says early season activity is typically slow:

“Just 13 percent of the tropical storms since 1851 in the Atlantic have occurred in June and July combined. For comparison, August, September and October have accounted for 24 percent, 36 percent and 21 percent of all tropical storms on record, respectively.

“On average, there’s one June named storm in the Atlantic, Caribbean or Gulf of Mexico every one-to-two years. July has a slightly higher rate of occurrence, but it’s still averaged less than one named storm per year since 1851.

“Hurricanes are even rarer, with just 33 of them documented in June and 57 in July. Last July was a rarity for the Atlantic, with two hurricanes forming in the month: Beryl and Chris. Two or more hurricanes forming in July has only happened six other times since satellite observations began in 1966.”

To read the whole article go to: https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/2019-05-30-hurricane-season-start-june-1-early-season-june-july

Our premier has sent us his 2019 Hurricane message we have published today and I urge you to read it.

He says:

“The early predictions from our friends in the United States are already out. We are told that the 2019 Atlantic Hurricane Season is going to be less active than 2018 with 14 named storms, seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes.

“But don’t let that prediction put you off your guard. We know that just one bad storm can wreak havoc. We learned that lesson in 2004’s Hurricane Ivan, 2008’s Hurricane Paloma and watched in 2017 as our sister British Overseas Territories and other islands in the Caribbean suffered from hurricanes Irma and Maria.

“My plea to each of you is to be prepared for the worst and pray for the best this hurricane season, which will stretch from 1 June to the end of November.”

No one can argue with that.

June is right on our door step.