FOX Weather Hurricane Specialist Bryan Norcross gives his analysis on Colorado State University’s 2024 hurricane season outlook.
The National Hurricane Center is tracking a system in the Eastern Pacific Ocean that could become a tropical disturbance this week.
Forecasters said an area of low pressure is expected to form several hundred miles to the south of the Gulf of Tehantepec by the middle of this week or later.
“Some gradual development of this system is possible as the low begins to move slowly to the west-northwest, remaining south of the coast of Mexico through early next week,” the NHC wrote in its outlook.
The system has a 30% chance of development within the next week.
HOW TO PREPARE FOR HURRICANE SEASON
(FOX Weather)
Eastern Pacific season begins earlier than Atlantic
The arrival of the system is on schedule with the official start of the Eastern Pacific hurricane season, which officially begins May 15.
The Atlantic season officially begins June 1, and it’s expected to be an extremely active one.
Meanwhile, Mexico’s national weather service said last week that an average season is expected in the Eastern Pacific, with 15-18 named storms. Between seven and nine of those storms are expected to become hurricanes, with a few of those becoming major hurricanes.
The first named storm in the Eastern Pacific will be Aletta.
In 2023, the names of Dora and Otis were retired from the Eastern Pacific naming list after the storms were connected to devastation in Hawaii and Acapulco, Mexico.