What Travelers Need to Know About Hurricane Season

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What Travelers Need to Know About Hurricane Season

When Hurricane Beryl intensified into a Category 5 storm last week, it broke records and left a trail of damage across the Caribbean. The first named hurricane of the season, Beryl is the earliest Category 5 Atlantic hurricane ever recorded, and also the first Category 4 hurricane to form in the Atlantic in the month of June — a portent of what experts say is a hurricane season that will be much more intense than usual. It was also abnormal because of where it formed, farther south and east than is typical for storms of this magnitude.

After tearing through the Caribbean and the Yucatán Peninsula, the storm landed in southeast Texas, canceling more than a thousand flights and cutting power for more than two million residents. The storm ******* at least 15 people.

Hurricane season usually runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, with most storms developing between mid-August and mid-October. A broad swath of the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic seaboard of the ******* States is affected by the storms. If you’re planning to travel during this hurricane season, here’s what you should know.

How bad will hurricane season be this year?

The

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has predicted an

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of a more active than normal season. An average season has about 14 named storms, but researchers at Colorado State University forecast that this year there will be 25, including six hurricanes that are Category 3 or higher.

More hurricanes are likely to occur because of the above-average water temperatures in the Caribbean and the tropical Atlantic. These warmer waters provide fuel for hurricanes and tend to be associated with lower pressure and a more unstable atmosphere, creating an environment conducive to storms,

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, wrote in an email.

It seems as if the season is off to an early start. Why?

Warmer ocean temperatures are causing the hurricane season to start earlier than usual. Normally, storms would develop later in the season once the ocean has warmed, but this year parts of the Atlantic are already at 84 degrees, 2 to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above normal, according to Dr. Klotzbach. These kinds of temperatures are normally associated with the peak of hurricane season in September.

It’s particularly unusual for such an intense storm like Beryl to form this early in the season: The storm reached Category 4 a week earlier than any storm had since 2005. “Usually the June and July storms are relatively benign,” said

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“They don’t get up to full strength, so it’s very rare to have this.”

What’s significant about the location of Beryl?

Beryl set another record, for the farthest east a hurricane has formed in the month of June, breaking a record set in 1933,

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, wrote in an email. It also formed farther south than usual, affecting nations such as Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines that tend to be outside the maximum activity range of hurricanes, according to Dr. Emanuel.

When a storm forms in the tropics and farther east than typical — especially if it’s a severe hurricane like Beryl — it tends to be a harbinger of a very busy season, Dr. Klotzbach said. “It’s one thing to get weak systems in the deep tropics like we did in 2013, while it’s a whole different ballgame when we’re getting Category 5 hurricanes,” he added. “Unfortunately, Beryl is breaking records that were set in 1933 and 2005 — two of the busiest Atlantic hurricane seasons on record.”

Historically, the so-called ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao), plus Trinidad and Tobago, have been out of the hurricane zone. Has that changed?

It’s been years since a major hurricane has affected those islands.

Experts say that is unlikely to change. “We haven’t really observed any notable changes in terms of storms tracking over that region,” Dr. Klotzbach wrote.

Should I change my summer travel plans?

Many people choose to travel to hurricane-prone areas during the season, said Jackie Friedman, the president of

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, a network of travel advisers, and most don’t face disruption from storms. “I don’t know of any advisers that would say, ‘I would not go to the Caribbean at all this summer,’” she said.

Dr. Klotzbach agreed that it’s not particularly risky to travel to the Caribbean. “The odds of any one spot getting hit by a hurricane during any short time span is going to be very small,” he said.

Ms. Friedman recommends purchasing travel insurance and considering taking a cruise instead of traveling to a single destination. “The benefit is the flexibility to avoid being in the eye of the storm,” she said. “They can modify their itineraries for a relatively pleasant vacation.”

Does travel insurance cover hurricanes?

Yes, but it’s important to purchase coverage early. Once a storm is named, newly purchased plans won’t cover claims tied to it. Travel insurance is meant to protect against unpredictable situations; once a storm is named, it’s considered a “foreseeable event.” So it’s best to purchase a plan before a storm develops.

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