Look outside. Can’t you tell it’s begun?
It’s June 1, officially the first day of the Atlantic Hurricane season. Already, Hurricane Agatha in the Pacific has hit Mexico, and its remnants are affecting weather in Yucatán. It’s likely that this weather system will strengthen over the Gulf of Mexico and become the first named storm in the Atlantic.
Its name will be Alex.
Winds are expected to be limited in intensity, but it will be a soaker, forecasters say. Locally heavy rainfall is likely across portions of the Yucatán Peninsula, Guatemala, and Belize during the next couple of days, spreading across western Cuba, southern Florida, and the Florida Keys on Friday and Saturday.
Chances have risen to 70% that Alex will form somewhere between the Yucatán and the southern half of Florida, the National Hurricane Center reports.
Earlier: Names to watch during the 2022 hurricane season
The last time a named Pacific storm became a named Atlantic storm was in 2020 when Amanda moved east and Cristobal wreaked havoc on the Peninsula.
The Atlantic hurricane season runs until Nov. 30. The National Hurricane Center in Miami predicts 14 named storms, seven hurricanes and three major hurricanes in the Atlantic this year.
