The Southern Climate Impacts Planning Program, also known as SCIPP, recently released a report looking at how early named storms are forming, and how often they're stalling.
An example of a stalling storm the group used in the report was one that southeast Texas knows well. They featured Hurricane Harvey.
NOAA said eight years ago, Harvey sat over the Houston area for a few days, and dropped 50 inches of rain in some places.
"These stalling storms can drop epic amounts of rain beyond what you can comprehend and will flood places that have never flooded before," ABC13 Chief Meteorologist Travis Herzog explained.
Here's what SCIPP found while looking at stalling storms. Since 1960, it has been found that every year the number of stalled storms has grown by 1.5%.
In August, researchers found they stall about 8% of the time. However, storms in October stalled more often at 17%. That's not all bad for southeast Texas.
"October storms are something we usually don't have to worry about in Texas," Herzog explained. "If we did have an October storm, I suspect it wouldn't be a stalling one. It would quickly be scooped out and moved away."
Researchers also discovered that named storms are happening earlier. Fifty-five years ago, the report states that the first named storm happened around the end of July.
By 2022, the study found storms were trending earlier, with the first named storm occurring by the end of May.
"It tells me something is definitely changing," Herzog said. "We also have better technology to detect storms that are out to sea that we normally couldn't."
With the change in storms, the group said the hurricane season should start earlier. They said this would give people more time to prepare.
Right now, hurricane season starts on June 1. However, the group suggests it should be May 15.
Herzog said the hurricane center has made changes.
"Starting every May 15 now, they start looking seven days out to see if any of these weaker or subtropical clouds form," Herzog said. "That's the compromise they settled on for now."
Herzog believes future discussions about extending the hurricane season could be coming. Reports like this, he said, add fuel to the discussion with data showing storms are forming earlier and staying longer.
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