October is the end of the year for tropical storm activity, but there are still six weeks left in the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season and hurricane forecasters are closely monitoring any potential areas of low pressure that could strengthen, according to NBC News Chicago's latest hurricane report.
Videos on social media show a storm named Nadine forming off the coast of Mexico, but there is currently no storm forming in the area, according to the US National Hurricane Center.
Eric Burris, a meteorologist with NBC affiliate WESH in Orlando, emphasized that after Milton, there are no new storms forming and heading toward central Florida.
“Trust people who deserve your trust, not some random person on social media,” he said.
The US National Hurricane Center is currently tracking two systems, including Hurricane Leslie in the central Atlantic. Hurricane Leslie is producing maximum sustained winds of 90 mph in an area about 1,735 miles (2,735 kilometers) from the Azores.
Hurricane forecasters expect Hurricane Leslie to begin turning north and then east, eventually weakening in the coming days.
The second system is a low pressure area tracking off the west coast of Africa. Forecasters say it has a 20 percent chance of becoming a named tropical system next week.
According to the National Hurricane Center, hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, which means there’s still a month and a half left for storms to form. It’s possible for storms to form outside the hurricane season window, but it’s not common.
Five hurricanes have hit the U.S. this year, including Debby, Helene and Milton, which hit Florida, according to the Weather Channel. Hurricane Beryl hit Texas in July, while Francine hit the Louisiana coast in September.
The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season is expected to be intense, with an average of only 1-2 hurricanes making landfall in the United States during a season, according to NOAA. The most hurricanes to make landfall in the United States in a single year is 6, with the most recent occurring in 2020.
In its seasonal hurricane forecast for 2024, NOAA sees it as a year with more named storms than usual in the Atlantic. NOAA predicts 17-25 named storms, which are storms with maximum sustained winds of 62 km/h or faster. Of those, 8-13 are expected to become hurricanes, with 4-7 becoming hurricanes of Category 3 or higher.
The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season has produced 13 named storms so far, with nine becoming hurricanes, including Hurricane Beryl (Category 5), Helene (Category 4), Kirk (Category 4), and Hurricane Milton (Category 5).
