ORLANDO, Fla. – Here we are in the middle of May, and we are just a few very short weeks away from the official start of hurricane season on June 1.

Of course, the season runs from June 1 through November 30 with the climatological peak of hurricane season on September 10.

However, over the past five years, there have been six tropical systems that have developed ahead of the start of hurricane season. Last year, Subtropical Storm Andrea formed well to the east of Florida in late May. Andrea hardly lasted a day before dissipating.

In 2017, Tropical Storm Arlene formed in the East Central Atlantic in April. The system developed first into a subtropical depression before taking on tropical characteristics on April 19 well to the east of Bermuda in the Northern Atlantic Ocean. At its peak, Arlene had winds of 50 mph making it a tropical storm. Arlene became only the second known tropical storm to develop in the month of April outside of Ana in 2003 during the time of satellites.

In 2016, there were two systems that developed way ahead of schedule and this was the year Alex developed into a hurricane in the middle of January. 

Alex became a hurricane near the Azores in the eastern Atlantic on January 14, 2016. Hurricane warnings and tropical storm warnings were issued for the islands of the Azores. It had maximum sustained winds of 85 mph. Alex became the first hurricane to form in the Atlantic Basin in January since 1938 according to NOAA. Bonnie later developed in May as a tropical storm.

It was 2018 when there was a storm to directly impact parts of Florida before the start of hurricane season. It was tropical storm Alberto. Alberto made landfall in the Florida Panhandle on the 28th of May.

The most common areas for a tropical or subtropical storm to develop in May is just east of our East Central Florida coastline. Rarely, do tropical systems that develop outside of the normal season develop into strong systems due to the lack of warm ocean waters that fuel the growth of tropical storms.

Of course, this is just a friendly reminder that hurricane season is right around the corner and storms can pop-up outside of the traditional months. So now is the time to prepare before a storm ever even begins to threaten the U.S. coastline.