COLUMBIA, S.C. — Global oceans are very hot right now but so far in the Atlantic, the tropical season has been rather quiet.
Since March, our Oceans have been the hottest they have been in decades. Almost the entire Atlantic Ocean is experiencing this heat wave That's extending into the Gulf of Mexico.
Temperatures range from the middle 80s into the 90s. These temperatures are hot enough to provide plenty of energy for tropical systems.
While this is the case, the only storm in the Atlantic is the weak tropical storm, Don which is expected to stay out at sea.
Historically in the month of July, tropical systems form closer to our coast but that begins to change going into the month of August where we see systems form in the Caribbean.
This potentially will be the case with a tropical wave coming off the African coast right now. It has been given a low chance of development by the National Hurricane Center.
During El Nino years, increased wind shear makes it very difficult for storms to strengthen as they move towards the west where they could threaten the US coast.
While this may be the case, El Nino seasons can produce strong hurricanes such as Hurricane Andrew in 1992, and with the ocean temperatures as warm as they are, we could see the possibility of strong storms going into the coming months.
The National Hurricane Center is still expecting 5 to 9 hurricanes to form between now and the end of the hurricane season.