The six-month hurricane season passed the halfway mark on Labor Day (Sept. 1) with only three tropical storms gathering enough strength to be named (sustained winds of at least 39 mph).
A fourth, Dolly, became a tropical storm on Tuesday morning and is on a collision course with Mexico.
Not since the 1994 hurricane season has it taken so long for the Atlantic Ocean to generate its fourth named storm. The other three (Arthur, Bertha and Cristobal) reached hurricane status, and each traveled north over the open water of the Atlantic Ocean.
The first three months of the hurricane season made good on a forecast by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Prediction Center for a “below normal” hurricane season with 7 to 12 named storms, 3 to 6 reaching hurricane status (sustained winds of at least 74 mph), and zero to 2 becoming major hurricanes (winds of at least 111 mph).
Aside from Dolly, which will not affect the East Coast, there are no tropical systems expected to develop imminently as of Tuesday (Sept. 2).
Hurricane season started on June 1 and continues through Nov. 30. Superstorm Sandy, whose record flooding came late in the season on Oct. 29, 2012, is still fresh in the minds of Ocean City residents and property owners.
An Army Corps of Engineers beach replenishment project for the south end of Ocean City is scheduled to start in late November.
Local surfers, who enjoy the storms that pass offshore, will have to wait for the next tropical swell. The video above shows the fading afternoon surf generated by Hurricane Cristobal. See more surf images from Cristobal.
