Meteorologist Jeff Ranieri

We are now in the tropical season and this of course brings a renewed duty to my daily research. In the past week or so I added a full check of the tropics as I start to my shift. This includes plotting where storms are developing in the Atlantic, Pacific and Caribbean.

MORE: Hurricane Central

A few days ago, my brain started to click away and think back to last year at this time. I can remember plotting plenty of regions of thunderstorms in the Caribbean or the Gulf but rarely remember any Atlantic activity this early.

When I checked the maps and discussions about a week ago, there were 2 tropical waves located in the Atlantic. While it is not completely uncommon to get waves forming in the Atlantic this time of year, it does get your mind moving. Remember, the next step after a tropical wave is a depression. We were literally only one level away from two new depressions. Did they form into something larger in the Atlantic??? So far... no. But you can bet though as water temperatures warm in the next month this will make it much more likely.

Remember, last year's predictions never materialized because of El Nino and also African Dust that developed off the coastline. This year is expected to be different as La Nina could enhance storm activity. As far as African Dust plumes playing a part, we will just need to wait and see.

MORE: Information On African Dust

Buckle up and make Weatherplus.com your homepage as this could be a very bumpy season. Time to update the tropical outlook, ciao!

Jeff Ranieri
Meteorologist