Spring may bring April showers, but September goes all out as hurricane season opens with heavy storms and excessive flooding.
Hurricane Earl has been making its rounds, and one of its final stops in the United States was Long Island, New York, where the hurricane took its last bites out of the sand dunes on the East Coast beaches. Early Saturday morning, Earl was 160 miles east of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and made its way toward Halifax, Nova Scotia. At its peak, Earl was classified as a high-risk Category 4 hurricane. Earl departed from the United States over Labor Day Weekend as a Category 1 storm, with sustained winds of 70 to 80 mph.
Though the tropical storm has weakened in the United States, rain and high winds are typical after-effects. As a result, flights and other traveling plans were at high risk for delay this past Labor Day weekend.
The National Hurricane Center stated, “What’s now Tropical Storm Earl is causing dangerous surf conditions and rip currents.” Police closed and patrolled the East Coast beaches affected by Earl. The two main reasons were that waves rose above 10 feet and the strong current brought ashore cumbersome residue.
CNN.com stated, “Earl may be gone, but the tropical Atlantic is ripe with activity.” Another tropical storm named Hermine made an appearance in Texas on Tuesday. The storm originated from the Gulf of Mexico and has caused flooding and closure of roads in San Antonio, Texas. CNN meteorologists reported between one to three inches of rain falling every hour over the city. The tropical storm is expected to weaken late Tuesday.
Hurricane season for the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean runs from June 1st to November 30th. The peak of hurricane and tropical storm activity is September 10th. The sea surface temperature is warmest around this time of the year, and wind shear is more relaxed, allowing thunderstorms to grow more elevated and resilient. The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is anticipating a busy next few weeks regarding hurricane and tropical storm activity.