It's the third week of August, and we usually see the tropics getting much busier. This is when the "Cape Verde storm season" begins, but a quirk in weather patterns right now has cleared the forecast -- for the time being.
This is the time of year when tropical waves emerge off Africa's west coast, hit warm, moist air over the Atlantic, and it acts like a tropical cyclone conveyor belt. But LSU climatologist Barry Keim says the pattern has shifted a little bit.
"These storms coming off of Africa, these little waves, are actually deflected a little too far to the north, and they're getting caught up in an area that has a little bit of that Saharan air layer," Keim explains.
"As a result, it's more difficult for storms to form," he said. "So some of the waves are coming off of Africa, they're just a little to far north and they're just not developing."
Keim says we should enjoy this break while it lasts, because we still have several weeks of peak hurricane season to go.
"Starting now, through about the first week of October, this is the window of time when we see the vast majority of hurricanes," said Keim.
