The National Hurricane Center said Tuesday that it will issue tropical weather bulletins earlier this year, beginning May 15.

That is 17 days before the official June 1 start of the 2021 hurricane season. It’s the same date that government scientists are considering as the new start of the Atlantic hurricane season.

The bulletins are issued throughout storm season and help keep the public, government officials and meteorologists informed about everything from a potential tropical system developing to a named storm strengthening into a bigger storm to which coastal regions should worry about a storm’s path.

“The change would reflect an increasing tendency for early-season storms to form ahead of the internationally agreed-upon June 1 conventional start date in an effort to respond to observed trends,” wrote Michael Brennan, the branch chief of the center’s hurricane specialist unit, in a memo issued Tuesday.

The change also reflects the reality that storm season hasn’t started in June in years. In the past six hurricane seasons, named storms formed in May. That date, May 15, is also when the Central Pacific Hurricane Center starts issuing bulletins for storms that form in the Pacific Ocean.

The public won’t notice much of a change with the earlier bulletins because they won’t have much tropical activity to discuss, said Phil Klotzbach, Colorado State University research scientists and hurricane forecaster . The heart of the Atlantic hurricane season will remain from August through October, he said.

Yahoo