2017 Tropical Outlook: The Weather Company Says Latest Data Now Suggesting Season Will Be More Active than Originally Thought

ANDOVER, Mass. — In its second seasonal tropical forecast for the North Atlantic basin for the 2017 season, The Weather Company, an IBM Business, now expects a total of 14 named storms, 7 hurricanes, and 3 major hurricanes. These numbers include Tropical Storm Arlene, which formed in April. This is an increase relative to the original April forecast numbers of 12/6/2. The current forecast numbers are more than the long-term 1950-2016 normals of 12/7/3 but slightly fewer than the recent “active period” (1995-2016) normals of 15/8/3.

According to Dr. Todd Crawford, chief meteorologist at The Weather Company, “There has been a clear trend over the past month towards warmer North Atlantic ocean temperatures and a less bullish view on El Nino development/magnitude, both of which favor a more active 2017 Atlantic tropical season than originally thought. Dynamical model forecasts are also more aggressive this month relative to last. The big North Atlantic blocking in May has favored continued increases in Atlantic water temperatures, which suggests that we may need to move our numbers up a bit more in our June update.”

The Weather Company provides customized weather information to global commodity traders via its leading WSI Trader Web site. The Weather Company will issue its next tropical outlook on 19 June 2017.

The Weather Company, an IBM Business

The Weather Company, an IBM Business, helps people make informed decisions and take action in the face of weather. The company offers the most accurate, personalized, and actionable weather data and insights to millions of consumers, as well as thousands of marketers and businesses via Weather’s API, its business solutions division, and its own digital products from The Weather Channel (weather.com) and Weather Underground (wunderground.com).

The company delivers tens of billions of forecasts daily. Its products include a top weather app on all major mobile platforms globally, a network of 250,000 personal weather stations, a top-20 U.S. website, one of the world’s largest IoT data platforms, and industry-leading business solutions.

Weather Means Business™. The world’s biggest brands in aviation, energy, insurance, media, and government rely on The Weather Company for data, technology platforms and services to help improve decision-making and respond to weather’s impact on business. For more, visit theweathercompany.com.