We started off pretty active this season with numerous storms in May and June but we shut things off the last 3-4 weeks.  We are now entering in what is not only called the peak of the Hurricane Season but the Cape Verde Hurricane Season.

You may ask what is the Cape Verde Hurricane Season ?

It takes a good part of the summer for the waters off the African Coast to warm up esp. deeper than 25 feet. This warmer water in August provides a rich deep flow of water vapor to get the storms going.

Cape Verde-type hurricanes typically develop from tropical waves which form in the African savanna during the wet season, then move into the African steppes. The disturbances move off the western coast of Africa and become tropical storms or tropical cyclones within (620 mi) of the Cape Verde Islands, usually between July to September. However, Cape Verde hurricanes have formed as early as June or as late as October. An average of two form per hurricane season.

Cape Verde Hurricanes can be the biggest and strongest of all hurricanes to the the long journey they take and ample warm water across the Atlantic Ocean. Here are some notable Cape Verde Hurricanes the past few decades. 

Allen 1980                   Gloria 1985                   Georges 1998

So how do these storms form and how do they stay hurricanes for so long across the Atlantic Ocean ?

How will the developing El Nino affect the upcoming Cape Verde Hurricane Season ?

SHEAR BABY SHEAR !

The diagram above looks good in a normal year but we at liveweatherblogs.com expect the problems to come in the Caribbean Sea with shear from the Pacific Ocean's El Nino in September & October 2012.

So in a nutshell we think August could get active but as we get closer to Mid September and October El Nino may slow things down in the Cape Verde Hurricane Season for a slow finish this year.

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