Humberto Becomes First Hurricane of the Season

We have our first hurricane of the season. This morning the National Hurricane Service said Tropical Storm Humberto had become a hurricane, though it is expected to move out to sea and pose no threat to land. It’s an unusually late start to the hurricane season. There’s been only one other year since records began in 1944 when there wasn’t a hurricane before September 10, the halfway point in the season. However, a late start doesn’t mean the rest of the season will be calm. According to Jeff Masters of Weather Underground, the season most similar to this one was 1988, which saw the most powerful Atlantic hurricane ever recorded.