
(El Niño has the opposite effect in the Pacific, reducing the amount of wind shear.)Īt the same time, this year’s heightened sea surface temperatures pose a number of threats, including the ability to supercharge storms. Hurricanes need a calm environment to form, and the instability caused by increased wind shear makes those conditions less likely. In the Atlantic, El Niño increases the amount of wind shear, or the change in wind speed and direction from the ocean or land surface into the atmosphere. The intermittent climate phenomenon can have wide-ranging effects on weather around the world, and it typically impedes the formation of Atlantic hurricanes. This year features an El Niño pattern, which arrived in June. See the latest Wisconsin Doppler radar weather map including areas of rain, snow and ice. ( A record 30 named storms formed in 2020.) There were 14 named storms last year, after two extremely busy Atlantic hurricane seasons in which forecasters ran out of names and had to resort to backup lists. 10, NOAA officials revised their estimate upward, to 14 to 21 storms.

In late May, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted that there would be 12 to 17 named storms this year, a “near-normal” amount. See the latest North Carolina Doppler radar weather map including areas of rain, snow and ice. Lee is the 12th named storm to form in the Atlantic in 2023. Lee was a post-tropical cyclone in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence with sustained wind speeds of 45 miles per hour, the National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory.
