RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — We're less than a month away from the start of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season and some early season trends are already starting to bubble up.
This time last year, the Atlantic Ocean was experiencing one of, if not its warmest stretch on record. That partially fueled a very busy 2024 season.
The good news is the Atlantic, at least an important part of it, is not as warm as what it was.
The Main Development Region of the Tropical Atlantic, which is the area between Africa and the Leeward Islands, cooled the most between January and March since at least 1950. Considering how warm it was for most of, if not all of last year, this isn't a huge surprise.
There were two other years since 1950 that saw similar levels of cooling that also followed busy seasons: 1996 and 2018.
1995 and 2017 were very busy seasons and while 1996 and 2018 were around average, they still had significant storms.
In 2018, Category 5 Michael made landfall in the Florida panhandle. In 1996, both Bertha and Fran caused significant impacts across North Carolina, with Fran being the last hurricane to bring significant wind to the Triangle.
Both of those years go to show you don't need a hyperactive season to create major impacts. As we say each and every season, it only takes one.
