Community Corner

Halfway Through August, Tropical Storms Quiet for East Coast

Forecasters still predict a "normal" hurricane season with five named hurricanes.

When Tropical Storm Alberto formed in mid-May — the earliest named storm since Ana formed on April 20, 2003 — it appeared the U.S. would be in for a long and threatening hurricane season.

But halfway through August, no tropical storm has affected the East Coast north of Florida.

"Despite a quiet July in the Atlantic, the AccuWeather.com Long-Range Forecasting team still expects the 2012 Atlantic Hurricane Season to be near normal in terms of the number of named storms," Accuweather meteorologist Meghan Evans says. "The forecast calls for a total of 12 tropical storms, five named hurricanes and two major hurricanes."

Find out what's happening in Ocean Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30 (though tropical systems can form outside that window of time).

Two named storms are currently active in the Atlantic Ocean: Tropical Storm Helene (with winds of 45 mph) is headed for Mexico, and Tropical Storm Gordon is tracking toward Europe, where it could dump rain on the British Isles.

Find out what's happening in Ocean Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

A system that moved off the west coast of Africa Friday morning could become the next named storm — but that won't be a possibility for several days.

There are currently no tropical systems that pose any threat to Ocean City.

In the meantime, local showers and thunderstorms are likely before 11 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 18, and a chance of rain continues into the evening.

The ocean water temperature was 74 degrees on Friday evening.


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