The first month of the hurricane season has been slow to start, with only the short-lived formation of Andrea. July typically follows a similar pattern, but as seen last year, the month can sometimes bring a hurricane threat to the U.S. Historically, July has accounted for only 7% of tropical storms in the Atlantic since 1851, with the busiest months being August (22%), September (35%), and October (21%). The favored areas for storm formation in July shift eastward, expanding into parts of the Atlantic waters near the Lesser Antilles and the eastern Caribbean.
Tropical waves, one of the seeds for storm development, become more defined in July as they move westward from Africa. Only about one in five of these disturbances becomes an Atlantic basin tropical system. While conditions in July are favorable for storm development, the peak period from August to October is still more conducive.
An extreme outlier was Hurricane Beryl last July when it rapidly intensified into a Category 5 storm, hitting the Caribbean and later making landfall in Texas as a Category 1, causing significant damage and tornadoes across the U.S. July 2020 tied with 2005 for the most named storms, with five forming during the month.
Moving forward, the next storm names on the list include Barry, Chantal, and Dexter, with Dexter replacing Dorian from 2019.
