The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through November 30 but there is nothing magical about these dates, tropical cyclones can appear almost anytime.
Two years ago this month the nation was in the middle of spring but NOAA’s National Hurricane Center was issuing advisories on Tropical Storm Arlene, the first named storm for that year. This was a rare occurrence and only the second tropical storm on record in the month of April, joining Ana which formed in 2003. But Ana and Arlene weren't the earliest storms in recent memory. In 2016 Hurricane Alex became the first hurricane to appear in the Atlantic basin in January since 1938.
When the U.S. Weather Bureau, the predecessor to the National Weather Service, organized its new hurricane warning network in 1935, a special telegraph line to connect the various hurricane centers was scheduled to operate for five months from June 15 through November 15. This period was the official season until 1965 when it was expanded to six months beginning June 1 and running to the end of November. Historically these dates encompass about 97% of the tropical activity in the Atlantic basin.
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Image via NOAA.