We are coming into the most active time period for tropical activity ( mid August-Mid September)and so far there are no signs of a busy season. From one of my earlier blogs you might recall that Andrea and Barry were very marginal tropical systems...perhaps not even deserving of a name. Chantal, the third named storm of the season was a weak tropical storm well east of the northeaster coast of the U.S.

As the summer unfolds several factors seem to be coming into play that could perhaps make the upcoming season not as active as the experts have predicted. 1.) The Atlantic Ocean temperatures have cooled a little. 2.) The air over the tropics is drier and more stable (not conducive to cloud development) than expected. 3.) Upper level winds are stronger than anticipated so that when some clouds do try to grow the strong winds rip the clouds apart.

The experts at Colorado State have downed the forecast prediction from 17 to 15 named storms. 8 hurricanes and 4 major are now apart of their forecast. Down from a forecast of 10 hurricanes and 5 major.

Stay tuned! I will keep you up to date.

DAVID