With just ten days into the 2025 Atlantic Basin hurricane season, it’s certainly not unusual that there are no named storms to track. But, for an expected busy season with above average named tropical storms and/or hurricanes likely, the quiet beginning to this year’s hurricane season is a welcome sight.  Stakeholders across the Gulf of Mexico and Florida know full-well how easily a tropical system can spin up in June with a long history of early season named storms serving as a reminder (such as Audrey, 1957, Alex, 2010).

Saharan dust blowing westward across the tropics has been a prime inhibitor for tropical development across the western tropical Atlantic, Caribbean and Eastern Gulf of Mexico thus far.  This Saharan dust is expected to persist for the next couple of weeks so that a continued lull in tropical activity is expected. However, water temperatures, although near-normal at the present time, will warm more fervently during the months of July and August, bringing about a new weather regime and likely renewed tropical development across the Atlantic Basin.

For now, the lull in tropical activity gives beach-goers and coastal residents a reason to kick up some sand before diving into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea.