The first tropical wave of the 2022 hurricane season is starting to show signs of weakening, the National Hurricane Center said Monday afternoon.
The wave – which popped up on Mother’s Day, some 23 days before the official start of hurricane season – moved off the coast of Africa and into the Atlantic.
“Convection has weakened steadily over the last 24 hours,” hurricane center forecasters said in their Monday afternoon tropical update. “The latest satellite imagery shows an area of scattered moderate convection east of the wave from the equator to 11N between the coast of Africa and the wave axis.”
The early tropical wave is moving west at about 23 mph.
“Tropical wave guidance has it moving westward over the next 24-48 hours, passing south of the Cabo Verde Islands,” the NHC said.
Hurricane season officially starts on June 1, but Mother Nature hasn’t been paying attention to the calendar in recent years.
In the past seven years there have been named storms before the official start of hurricane season – including Anna last year and Arthur and Bertha in 2020.
The first named storm of the 2022 season will be called Alex.
The 2022 hurricane season is expected to be a busy one, according to the meteorological team at Colorado State University. Its forecast released in April called for an above-average year with 19 named storms this season — five more than what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration considers average, based on data collected from 1991 to 2020.
The Colorado State prediction also calls for four major hurricanes, which are defined as being at least Category 3 with maximum sustained winds greater than 110 mph. The average season has about three, according to NOAA.
