We are now 29 days into hurricane season, and as is typical June has been very quiet in the Atlantic basin. We have had two tropical depressions in the Pacific that  silently fallen apart.  This time of the season we look closer to home for storm development, in the Caribbean and the Gulf, because they are fairly shallow waters in comparison to the Atlantic, so they tend to warm up earlier in the season than the summer.

We have one area just off the eastern coast of the Yucatan peninsula of disorganized thunderstorms. It stands a relatively slim chance of gaining development as it enters the gulf, and thanks to a late season cold front that will reach the deep south, it will steer any chances of impacting the panhandle away.

When we do have our first named tropical system this season, it will be named Ana. The National Hurricane Center cycles six different lists of names every six years, alternating male and female names. Recently retired names include Ike, Gustav and of course Katrina. Storm names are retired when a storm has a particularly impacting nature in terms of costliness, and fatalities.  Atlantic basin hurricanes have been given names since 1953, but they were all female names until 1979. The World Meteorological Organization, which is a group of scientists from around the globe is now in control of naming storms. This year's list of names will be used again in 2015.

Fortunately for us here, forecasters are predicting a fairly quiet season for the eastern gulf coast, but it only takes one storm to wreak havoc, so visit our hurricane page and make sure you're prepared now for the upcoming months.