It's coming up on the third anniversary of Merbok, so it seems like a good time to check out what's happening with storm activity in the tropics. Now this is the time of year that Alaska is sometimes influenced by former typhoons from the Western Pacific, and this is also the peak time of year for Atlantic hurricanes. However, so far, it's been a comparatively quiet season for hurricanes and typhoons across the northern hemisphere.
In the Western Pacific, the number of typhoons is close to normal for this point in the season. However, all but a couple of those were short lived and weak. In the eastern Pacific, the number of tropical storms and hurricanes is slightly above normal, but again, most have been weak.
In the Atlantic, it's been a generally inactive season, apart from the significant exception of Hurricane Erin. But we're not out of the woods yet. There are still a solid two months left with a reasonable chance that an ex-typhoon could impact our region.
