
Predicting Maine’s Hurricane Forecast for 2022
On Tuesday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its predictions for this hurricane season coming in 2022. Its forecast for this year's season is a more active than normal one just as predicted for last year's hurricane season. Hurricane season begins June 1st and goes through November 30th.
How could Maine fare during the 2022 hurricane season
Luckily, Maine's northern placement along the Atlantic coast of the United States places us well out of the way of typical storm tracks that usually spur during the hurricane season, placing many pathways that hit the coast further south. However, above-average temperatures of the Atlantic Ocean could open up a higher possibility of Maine becoming more susceptible to hurricane pathways, especially when the season looks to have higher activity than 'normal'.

NOAA's 2022 hurricane predictions
As stated above, NOAA is predicting a higher than average amount of hurricane activity than 'the usual', even though the past seven years have all been 'above average' hurricane seasons as well. The 2022 hurricane season is predicted to see slightly more forecasted storms compared to last year's prediction, with 2022 predicting to have 14 to 21 storms that will be strong enough to be named hurricanes, which means these storms will have winds of 39 miles per hour or higher. Of those storms, it is being predicted that 3 to 6 of those will reach major hurricane status as a category 3, 4, or 5. These hurricanes reaching a category 3 or higher will have winds that reach 111 miles per hour or higher.
Cyclone names selected for 2022
This year's storm names have already been chosen. Here are names we'll become more familiar with this hurricane season, maybe more so than we would like:
- Alex
- Bonnie
- Colin
- Danielle
- Earl
- Fiona
- Gaston
- Harmine
- Ian
- Julia
- Karl
- Lisa
- Martin
- Nicole
- Owen
- Paula
- Rickard
- Shary
- Tobias
- Virginie
- Walter
Resources for Mainers
Maine's past with hurricanes have been quite substantial, including Hurricanes Carol and Edna in September of 1954, Hurricane Gloria in 1985, and Hurricane Bob in 1991.
Having preparedness as the season approaches may be good in case NOAA's predictions hit Maine. Maine.gov lists a few considerations for preparing for a hurricane including planning on where you would go if you would have to evacuate the area, planning a few evacuation routes, and purchasing flood insurance for your home if there's a possibility of flooding.
See more hurricane info from the Maine Emergency Management Agency on Maine.gov.