Super El Niño Curbs Atlantic Hurricanes as New England Faces Higher Coastal Storm Risk
Updated
Updated · The Boston Globe · Aug 5
Super El Niño Curbs Atlantic Hurricanes as New England Faces Higher Coastal Storm Risk
3 articles · Updated · The Boston Globe · Aug 5
Summary
Only 2 named Atlantic storms—Arthur and Bertha—had formed by early August, leaving the basin near average but far quieter than recent years.
Super El Niño is driving strong vertical wind shear and more evaporation over the main development region, disrupting thunderstorms and keeping key Atlantic waters cooler for hurricane formation.
That suppression is not uniform: Gulf and East Coast waters are running at Top 5 warmest levels on record, and wind shear is generally weaker near the coast than over the open Atlantic.
New England therefore still faces an elevated risk from near-coast development through October, even if the overall Atlantic season stays muted.
Past super El Niño years such as 1991, 1997 and 2015 brought fewer named storms but still produced damaging regional impacts, including Hurricane Bob's Rhode Island landfall in 1991.