What Could Louisiana’s 2025 Hurricane Season Look Like?
A month or so ago weather professionals across Louisiana were describing record snowfall in Lafayette, Opelousas, Baton Rouge, and many other cities and towns across the I-10 corridor of South Louisiana. Snow is not something we expect along the northern Gulf Coast.
Hurricanes? Well, that's a different story. We don't want to see them but we understand that if you live in the part of the world in which we reside the big storms will eventually find a way into your life.
The 2024 Hurricane Season was certainly an active one. Forecasters told us months in advance that we should expect a bit of a wallop from the tropics and they were not wrong.
That graphic is courtesy of the National Hurricane Center and was featured as part of a preliminary report on the 2024 Hurricane Season. The Hurricane Center had forecast between 17 and 25 named storms with 8 to 13 of those storms reaching hurricane status.
The official numbers came back after the season as 18 named storms with 11 hurricanes. The NHC forecast was certainly on target for last year. But what about Hurricane Season 2025?
We are still several months away from the official start of the Atlantic Hurricane Season. That officially begins on June 1st and will run through November 30th. Many of the major forecast outlets including Accu-Weather, Colorado State, and NOAA won't release their preseason outlooks for a few more weeks.
However, one respected forecast outlet has dropped a preliminary outlook for Hurricane Season 2025. The good news is forecasters with WeatherBell Analytics LLC have issued their early season outlook and the news, at least compared to 2024, is better.
The WeatherBell outlook takes into account that sea surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic are cooler than they were last year in the Main Development Region. However, there are warmer waters to the north of that region that could mean rapid development in parts of the ocean where we won't usually see that phenomenon.
The WeatherBell preseason outlook suggests that Hurricane Season 2025 will bring 15 to 19 named storms. In order to earn a name a storm system must reach a minimum sustained wind speed of 39 mph. Of those 15 to 19 named storms WeatherBell is suggesting that 7 to 9 of them will become hurricanes.
Of those storms that do reach hurricane status this forecast suggests that 2 to 3 of them will reach major hurricane status. A major hurricane is any storm that reaches category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
In the coming weeks, we should be getting other preseason forecasts from Accu-Weather, Colorado State (April 3), and NOAA(May 15). Then we can compare those forecasts with the WeatherBell outlook. By the way, WeatherBell plans to release an updated tropical outlook later this spring.
We do have a few months to review the upcoming forecasts and make the appropriate plans. After all, it only takes one hurricane to make it a bad season. Plan for the worst, hope for the best, it's a way of life along the Gulf Coast. Now, check below and see if your name is one of the 2025 Hurricane names
2025 Hurricane Names
Gallery Credit: Melissa