The 50-year climatology for tropical cyclone activity in the North Atlantic Basin is 12.4 tropical storms, 6.4 hurricanes and 2.5 intense hurricanes. The accumulated cyclone energy index is 99.2. During the past 25 years the climatology is somewhat stronger numbers...15.3 tropical storms, 7.6 hurricanes and 3.4 intense hurricanes. ACE index is 125.8. Why are the numbers higher?

According to NASA, solar cycle 25 began last September as solar minima ending the solar cycle 24 was completed. We’re currently on the uptick in sunspot activity as solar cycle 25 begins to strengthen. The latest NASA forecast indicates solar cycle 25 will peak around 2025 at sunspot number 120.

A strong Madden Julian oscillation shifts east into the equatorial Atlantic/Africa sector and weakens. The heat release pole ward warms the northern latitude mid-atmosphere and the declining latitudinal thermal gradient should slow the jet stream making trough/ridge patterns more likely to occur.

The Evaporative Demand Drought Index (EDDI) examines how anomalous the atmospheric evaporation demand is for a given location and across a time period of interest according to NOAA. Atmospheric evaporation demand is often referred to as “the thirst of the atmosphere”. The timescale of this index can vary to capture drying dynamics that themselves operate at different timescales.